One Big Mess
by NicolaiGrey
Summary: After her break up with Weiss, Ruby is given her first solo post in a small city on the other side of the kingdom. Join Ruby as she hectically tries to balance, work a social life and a budding new romance with a local scientist Blake Belladonna. Secret agent AU might change the rating to M at a later date.
1. Transfer

Ruby drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair nervously. She'd been called into HQ both unexpectedly and without an explanation, two things that were rarely a good sign in her line of work. The secretary at the desk in front of her had her eyes glued to her computer screen typing away about this and that like a machine.

Ruby looked at the door to her sister's office nervously. Yang had been promoted to one of the senior management positions within HQ nearly a year ago and in that time Ruby had seen or heard little of her older sister, both because of her own work load and that of her sisters.

The phone on the secretary's desk rang and Ruby jumped slightly as she came back to reality. Without taking her eyes off the monitor the woman reached a slender hand out to the phone and pressed the speaker button.

"Yes Ma'am?" She asked.

"Send her in." Yang's voice crackled over the phones loud speaker like she'd only just woken up.

"Yes Ma'am," She replied before turning to Ruby who was already on her feet. "Ms Xiao Long will see you now." She said in her proper and polite monotone voice.

"Thanks," Ruby said as she walked through the door.

It closed with a soft click behind her and she surveyed her sister's office for the first time since she'd gotten the position.

As she had expected Yang looked like a wreak, her usual attire had been replaced with a crisp black business suit which looked like she'd been wearing it for the last two days, her hair was just as messy and she had deep bags under her eyes.

She flinched just by looking at her. "Jesus Yang you look rough, what the hell happened?" She asked as she moved closer to her sister.

Yang offered her a half-hearted smile as she rummaged through the small mountain of paper work in front of her.

"Minor hiccup in Ferren-port last week," She mumbled.

"Minor? Half the city was levelled." Ruby said as she sat down.

Yang sighed before she pushed the call button on the phone on her desk. "Valery would you get us some coffee." She asked.

"Of course Ma'am, you're usual?" She asked.

"Get me something with enough caffeine to kill and elephant." She replied.

"And for Ms Rose?"

Yang looked at her.

"Just a latté," Ruby said.

"Latté," Yang repeated.

"Of course Ma'am," The woman replied before hanging up.

"So what happened in Ferren-port that has you doing this much paper work?" Ruby asked. "The news is reporting that the power plant went critical."

Yang sighed as she signed various documents and read over others. "Remind me again, what's you're clearance level?"

"Uh, Omega 3," She replied slowly.

"Well not anymore," Yang said as she expertly pulled a small file out of the small mountain without bringing it down on her. "As of right now you've been promoted to Alpha 5, congratulations."

Ruby just stared at her wide eyes; she did believe what she'd just heard. "Alpha?" She said after a moment. "Yang are you serious!?" She asked.

"Yea," She said as she tossed the file to the side and began looking for another.

"You're really not pulling my leg?" She asked.

"No," Her sister replied. "I thought you'd be happy?" She said, sounding a little disappointed.

Ruby jumped slightly in her chair. "Oh, no of course I'm happy," She said hurriedly to reassure her sister. "I'm just a little shocked is all. I thought Alpha level clearance had to be handed out by the CEO." She said.

Yang nodded. "It does," She confirmed. "But because of the incident in Ferren-port we're a bit short staff so they told me to pick three people to promote to Alpha 5 clearance and give them their own assignments." She said as she pulled out yet another file. "No that's Pyrrha's but I'll need that next." She mumbled to herself as her secretary came back in holding a tray.

"Here are your drinks Ma'am," She said as she offered Yang the tray. Yang nodded her thanks as she took the novelty sized coffee cup offered to her and began drinking, slowly at first but as she drank she seemed to become more alive.

Ruby took the offered Latté with a silent nod as she watched her sister scull what had to be at least 20 cups of coffee in one go.

She set the cup down with a satisfied sigh and looked back at Ruby.

"Yang you're going to give yourself a heart attack." Ruby said.

Yang just smiled at her. "Eh, this job's gonna kill me one way or another," She said as she pulled out another file.

"Ah, here it is." She said happily as she handed the file over to Ruby who opened it and began looking through it.

"I'm getting transferred!?" She asked almost panic stricken.

Yang looked at her, "Well sort of."

"What do you mean 'sort of'!?" Ruby shouted, as she began flicking through the pages.

Yang sighed as she began searching for the right files. "Look it's nothing bad, good in fact." She began. "You're being given your own post."

Ruby stopped dead as she looked up at Yang her mouth slightly open. "What, Why?" She asked to stunned to say anything more.

"Look it's all got to do with Ferren-port." Yang said. "The Media has only reported that it was a reactor going critical that took out the city, but in reality it was something else entirely." She said.

"What happened?" Ruby asked as she regained her senses.

"Well our intelligence is a little lacking at the moment but we had a team of eight Hunters investigating a small secret society," She explained. "Turns out they were a Grim cult. The unit moved in to remove them and the next thing we knew half the city had been taken out in an explosion."

Ruby nodded along with what Yang was saying dumbly.

"As you can imagine after this little incident we're short-handed in several locations. As such Ozpin's given me the authority to promote Hunter's who I believe are worthy of the position. Congratulations Ruby, you just got you first solo post."

The look of shock never left Ruby's face as she just sat in the chair across from Yang, trying to comprehend what she had just been told.

She'd been a hunter for all of a year, and it was all but unheard off for hunters to be given a solo post before at least 2 years of team jobs.

"Y-Yang, are you sure about this?" Ruby asked a little nervously.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be excited by this." She said disappointment creeping back into her voice.

"Oh, no, no, no, I-I am…excited," She said. "I'm just a little nervous I guess." She said as she fiddled with her sleeve.

Yang smiled at her reassuringly as she got up and walked around the table and sat on a small sofa to the side, beckoning n Ruby over to join her.

"Look trust me on this Sis." Yang said as she rubbed her sisters back reassuringly. "I know getting you first solo post can be a bit daunting but trust me you'll do fine."

"And you're sure you're not going to get in trouble for this?" Ruby asked a little bit calmer now.

Yang nodded her usual grin plastered across her face. "Of course not, Ozpin's already signed off on all three of the promotions and none of the other hunters in the area have complained about it, so unless you want to retire it's all official."

Ruby sighed. "You know I wish you'd have told me about this earlier, maybe even asked me first." She mumbled.

Yang sighed as she stood up. "Oh come on. You've all but begged me on several occasions to give you a solo post and now that I'm giving you one you're trying to get out of it."

"Yang it's in Baleworth, that's on the other side of the country!" Ruby protested.

Yang shrugged. "So?" She countered. "Look Ruby, I'm doing this as you're boss, not as your sister, and besides you sister and your boss both agree that this is a good thing for you."

Ruby looked up at her. "How so?" She challenged standing up to look at her sister giving the older woman her best intimidating glare.

Yang just folded her arms and assumed a bored expression. "Look all of your recent field work has proven that you're more than capable of handling things without a team backing you up and ever since you and Weiss broke up you've been mopey at best and hardly do anything. A new change of scenery and a fresh work load would be good for you." She said.

"So what, I get a little upset over a break up and you send me over the other side of the country?" Ruby retorted hotly. "How in the hell does it _help_ me if you're up rooting my life and sending me hundreds of miles away? What about my team? What about my friends?"

Yang sighed and buried her face in her hand; Ruby could be so difficult some times. Though admittedly she knew this would happen the second she mentioned Weiss. "Look Ruby you know that wasn't my intention." Yang said trying to defuse the situation. "But for one thing all you've done since you and Weiss broke up is work, so a _temporary_ change of place will help you get your mind off it. As far as your friends go we're about to stage a god damn intervention because of how you've been acting lately and you're teams being promoted and reassigned same as you." Yang replied. "If you're upset about the location I get that, but it'll only be for a year at most then after that I'll be able to get you back here or somewhere much closer but for now I'm sorry but this is just the hand you've been dealt."

Ruby sighed as she slumped back down on the couch behind her, silently admitting defeat. "I'm sorry Yang," Ruby mumbled sadly. Yang allowed herself a sad smile as she sat down to comfort her sister.

"It's just a lot to take in and I-,"

Yang cut her off by giving her a big hug. "Just relax will you." She said soothingly. "You'll be fine, on the last two missions you basically had you team running to keep up with you and all they had to do was pick off the stragglers and tidy up the loose ends. You'll do fine, and if after a year you still want to come back I'll figure something out." Yang said.

Ruby offered her sister a small smile as she pulled away. "You make it sound like I won't want to come back." She said.

Yang shrugged. "You kind of get attached to your first proper post. Hell I didn't want to come back from Colbeth until it was a direct order, and I'm honestly thinking of retiring there."

Ruby nodded. "Promise you'll come visit me as soon as you can?" She asked sheepishly. Yang smiled and kissed her forehead as she gave her another deep hug.

"Of course I will." She said. "I've got some leave coming up in a few weeks so I'll be there before you know it."

Ruby smiled and took a deep breath as she stood up and picked up the transfer order yang had given her earlier. "So when do I leave?" She asked.

"Three days," Yang told her. "Until you've gotten yourself to Baleworth you're no longer on active duty."

Ruby nodded.

"There will be someone from the agency there to meet you when you get off the plane." She told her. "So just take a day off to relax and get yourself sorted.

Ruby nodded as she gave her sister one last hug. "Thanks Yang. If you can spare the time I'd like to have dinner with you tomorrow night before I leave." She said.

Yang nodded. "Only if you let me put the bill." She said.

"How altruistic of you," Ruby said with a hint of distrust in her voice.

Yang only smiled. "What? It's only fair." Yang said.

"How so?" Ruby asked cautiously. She had a very bad feeling about this.

"Cause I'm going to bleed you dry when I come to visit you." The blond said with a particularly evil grin.

Ruby sighed. "Yea okay, see you tomorrow." Ruby said as she walked out of the door.

* * *

><p>Ruby stood in front of the impressive set of double doors fiddling with the hem of her skirt, she had tried and failed to work up the courage to knock on the doors several times but she kept freaking out at the very last minute.<p>

She sighed to herself as she slapped her face lightly. "Come on Ruby, you're a big girl now, you're 22 for fuck's sake and it's been a month, you can talk to her." Rewarded with a new found rush of determination ruby raised her hand and knocked on the door strongly.

It opened almost immediately. A tall slender woman standing in front of her, her hair was let down and she was wearing a more casual skirt than she usually wore but her eyes and terse expression were the same as ever.

"U-um, h-hello Weiss," Ruby said meekly

"What do you want Ruby?" Weiss asked in her usual harsh tone.

"I um, I wanted to talk to you about something." She said.

Weiss looked her up and down before shrugging. "Okay, come in." She said as she stepped to the side to allow Ruby to enter.

Ruby smiled as she stepped into Weiss' family manor. The white haired girl made to move deeper into the manor but Ruby stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Here's fine," She said. "It won't take long."

Weiss nodded and turned to look at her ex. "So what is it?" She asked in the same abrasive manner as before.

Ruby sighed, "Weiss do you have to be like that?" Ruby asked, more than a little annoyed at the other woman's attitude.

"Like what?" Weiss challenged, her cheeks blushing slightly.

"Difficult," Ruby countered. "Look I know we broke up but it doesn't mean we can be civil with each other."

Weiss' eyes narrowed slightly at the comment. "You said you wanted to talk to you about something so just do it already."

Ruby was silent until the near overwhelming urge to slap Weiss dissipated. "I just wanted to talk to you about it in person, after everything we've been through together I figured I owed you at least that much." Ruby said.

"Then talk already, I don't have time for this so would you just spit it out already!" Weiss said loudly.

"I'm getting transferred, okay!" Ruby snapped finally getting sick of the other woman's behaviour. "I've been given my own post over in Baleworth for at least a year, and seeing as we were together for four years I figured I owed you an explanation and a goodbye!"

The sudden outburst made the other woman take a step back, it was rare to say the least for Ruby to truly snap like that, more surprising was the news she imparted. Weiss just stood there, eyes wide, mouth slightly open as she just stared at her.

The two stood there for a second before Ruby finally gave up, sighing to herself as she turned to the door.

"Ruby wait," Weiss suddenly called out, grabbing the other girl by the shoulder. "I-I'm sorry about how I acted." She mumbled weakly.

Ruby smiled to herself as she turned back around. "It's okay Weiss, I'm sorry for shouting."

The tension between the two eased off somewhat only to be replaced by an awkward silence.

"So, when are you leaving for your new post?" Weiss asked after a moment.

"Tomorrow," She replied.

"Well, uh, if you want, we could, um, go and get dinner or something." Weiss mumbled uncertainly.

Ruby smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I appreciate the thought Weiss I really do, but I'm having dinner with Yang and I know how well you two get along."

Weiss seemed to blush with embarrassment as she looked down at her feet.

Gently Ruby raised a hand to her cheek and raised her face. "Goodbye Weiss, for what it's worth I am sorry for how it ended between us."

Weiss smiled weakly as she held her own hand over Ruby's savouring the touch one last time.

"I'll miss you," She said.

Ruby smiled as she rubbed her thumb across Weiss' cheek affectionately. "I'll miss you two Princess." She said softly.

The next thing Ruby knew Weiss flung herself at her, kissing her passionaly.

Ruby's first thought was to push away but after a moment's hesitation her brain said. _fuck it._ So for one last time Ruby kissed her, a goodbye that conveyed what words could not.

Time seemed to laps for a while before the two finally parted.

"You know it's moments like this that make me regret ever breaking up with you." Ruby said with a soft smile.

Weiss retuned the smile. "Goodbye Ruby."

* * *

><p><strong>You know brain if you could stop getting distracted but countless fan-fictions; that would be great.<strong>

**What's happening Frendlies?**

**Okay so this idea has just been circulating around my head for a week or so, and it's not so much an idea as it is several ideas that all seem to take place in the same universie-thing that I've some how concocted.  
><strong>

**Long and the short Hunter are kind of like super-heroes for some reason my sleep deprived brain believed that this was a totally workable story line, and for some reason it has to be Blake and Ruby, and there are villains and there are heroes and this is all just one big mess that has a highly likely possibility of swan-diving down a flight of stairs. So as you can see the title reflects more than just the large amounts of drama that is to come.**

**So yea, next chapter might have more exposition but for now just nod your head, smile and silently think to yourself, 'what the fuck is wrong with this guy?' also the rating may or may not change depending on how perverted I get.**

**One last thing, I'm changing the character ages slightly so Yang in this is about 30 while every one else is in their early to mid twenties...cause you know, my brain.**

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours truly.<br>Nicolai Grey.**


	2. Socializing

Ruby blinked and suddenly two months had passed. She sat at her desk in her office staring out the window, her cheek resting in her palm as she absently tapped away with her pen at the paper work in front of her.

Had it really been two months?

She mumbled to herself as she did a mental backtrack of everything that had happened to her since Yang had told her about the promotion, wondering where she'd slipped into a coma for a month and a half.

"You know paper work doesn't do itself Ruby." A soft voice said from the door way, breaking Ruby out of her daydreaming.

She lazily cast her silver eyes over to the man at the door. "Well not with that attitude." She commented as Jaune walked into her office, another stack of paper work under one arm.

He chuckled a little at the joke as he set the folder down on his desk. "Just got the latest supply order in from HQ, should be fine but I know how you like to double check everything." He said. Ruby nodded as she set the folder to one side and began filling out the paper work in front of her, signing off dates and names.

She sighed to herself as she put the last of it away. "Oh God I hate paper work." She moaned as she stretched her back in her chair.

Jaune shrugged as he began gathering up the finished paper work. "Well it's all part of the job." He said. "Besides, it's only two days a week at most. I on the other hand am her 50 hours a week making sure everything's all organised and tying up the loose ends."

Ruby sighed as she picked up the inventory folder and headed for the door, Jaune right behind her.

"I know it's nothing bad," Ruby said as she flicked through order forms and recites and delivery documents. "But I'm still allowed to not like it." She said, "It's not exactly why I became a hunter in the first place."

Jaune shrugged as he passed off the paper work ruby had completed to one of the many office workers walking about.

"I don't think anybody enters this because of the paper work." Jaune said.

Ruby shrugged as she went through form after form. "Everything seems to be in order." She said as she het the call button on the elevator to take them down to the loading dock.

The elevator doors opened as Ruby slumped against the far wall heavily as she pressed the button to take them down, a slight sigh escaping her lips.

"Something wrong?" Jaune asked.

Ruby cast him a glance, silently contemplating weather or not to say anything to him, eventually she caved, she was only going to be there for another ten months but she figured she should at the very least open up to the man on a more social level, if only to make the next ten months more bearable.

"Not really," She said unconvincingly.

Jaune smiled as he leant back against the far wall. "Come on, we both know that's a lie." Jaune said with a half-smile. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm bored," She admitted.

"You're bored?" Jaune asked, sounding a little unconvinced with her answer. "What do you mean bored?"

Ruby struggled with her answer, having trouble pinning down exactly why she was bored. "Well partially it's a lot of little things that keep adding up, but mainly I just don't have anything to do here. Hell I was actually excited about coming in today because it meant I had something to do." She told him. "No offence but this place is seriously dull, hell I actually had a whole week off last week, a whole week, while on call, I've barely had a day to myself before this." She said sounding a little frustrated.

Jaune shrugged, "Well sorry to hear that," He said evenly, "I guess a little city like this is nothing like central Vale huh?"

Ruby just sighed all the more. "The real problem is that Yang gave me this post to let me take my mind off stuff and yet I've found myself just sitting at home doing the exact opposite." She said as the door's opened and the two of them walked into the loading doc.

Jaune offered her a sympathetic smile. "Well me and a few other people are going to be hitting the pub up after work tonight; you might as well join us." He said.

"I don't know," Ruby said uncertainly.

"Too bad," Jaune said, "I've decided you're going along even if I have to call in a response team." Jaune said.

Ruby spun on her heal and looked at him. "And since when do you give me orders?" She asked in her commanding tone.

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Since now," He said in a casual tone. "You just admitted that you're feeling bored so you can either; come along and have a good time or you can fight off a response team. I think you'll have fun either way." He said.

Ruby went to give a counter argument when she realised she didn't have one. It was either go out and be social or sit at home with a bucket of ice cream and bad TV and working it all off at the gym the next morning.

With a sigh she gave up. "Okay fine, you win. When and where?" She asked.

Jaune allowed a smile to cross his features. "O'Hallerens on fifth at seven." He told her.

Ruby nodded. "Okay then I'll see you there, then." She said as she began walking for the lift.

"Hey, wait, where are you going?" Jaune asked.

"I have some things I need to get done, see you later." She called from the elevator.

* * *

><p>Ruby was on her third lap of the block, once again nearing the door of the pub Jaune and the others were going to be. She'd already mentally bailed twice only to psych herself out of it as she worked her way around the block.<p>

She had no idea why she was so nervous about this. She'd done it tones of times before, but it was always the first that scared her the most.

However it seemed third time was the charm as she finally managed to walk up to the door and open it, if only because there was a small group of people behind her and she felt too embarrassed to fake out again in front of them.

Walking into the bar wasn't all that intense of frightening, but Ruby had a way of over complicating social situations.

She scanned the bar a few times before she noticed Jaune and a few other people sitting in a booth towards the back.

She took a deep breath as she walked over to them, checking her appearance in the mirror behind the bar.

She was dressed casually in baggy pants and shirt, a very punk attire to say the least.

"Hey," Ruby said, trying to hide her nervousness as she walked up to the table.

"Hey Ruby," Jaune said with a smile as he shuffled over to make room for her. There were six of them in total and Jaune introduced her to each of them in turn.

"Ruby this is Dale, he works in accounting." He said indicating to the scruffy bearded man next to him. "That's Mort, he works in records. And next to him is Hal, he works in analysis." He said pointing to a pair of sandy blond twins.

It was the two at the other end of the booth that seemed most interesting. She'd seen them before, read their files but she'd never actually met them.

Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren.

They were Hunters in training, finishing their final year they were given their first proper assignment. She didn't even know they were here yet.

"Nice to meet you," Ruby said before sitting down next to Jaune. The group shuffled over a bit to make sure she had room as the others resumed their conversation.

For the most part she only added a sentence here and there, enough to be social but not enough to get her too involved in the conversation. Allowing her to be there without really being there.

However eventually as she knew they must things eventually turned to Ruby. As the new hunter of the area she was somewhat of a mystery. Even though on average a hunter was a rare sight at the office Ruby had been particularly elusive for the last two months.

"So Ms Rose, what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Nora asked.

"Huh?" Ruby murmured, only half listening.

"Why'd you transfer to here?" She elaborated.

"Oh, that, uh, it was kind of my sisters idea." She said.

"Your sisters?" Ren asked.

"Yea, she said I needed some time away from Vale so she assigned me this post." Ruby told him.

"Who is your sister?" Nora asked excitedly.

"Yang Xiao Long," Ruby told her.

"Really?!" She burst out excitedly. Ruby could see the million and one questions about to burst out of the girl in a un-organised mass of sounds but before the girl could start Ren cut her off, much to ruby's relief.

"If you don't mind my asking Ms. Rose, why'd she send you here?" Ren asked, putting a hand on Nora's shoulder to calm her down.

Ruby began to blush as she looked down at her hands and immediately started to play with her fingers.

"It's Ruby," She said a little flustered. "And it's kind of embarrassing actually."

Nora's eyes once again lit up as she couldn't help but pry.

"She doesn't have to say if she doesn't want to." Jaune said a little forcefully, making Nora quiet down.

Ruby smiled. "It's okay," She said as she looked up at nothing in particular. "It was just a bad break up really. Yang sent me out here so I could have some time to clear my head."

"Was it that bad?" Ren asked.

Ruby shook her head as she continued to look up at the roof. "Not really." She said as she took a sip of beer. "It's just that we were together a long time and it was my first real relationship so when it all fell apart I was just a bit...out of it."

"What was his name?" Nora asked before anyone could stop her.

"Her name was Weiss." Ruby said with a happy smile as she thought about the white haired woman.

There was a moment of silence as Ruby said it, none of the others knowing quite how to react to the news.

"Her?" Nora said. "So you're a-." She began before Ren cut her off.

She smiled as she looked at the two. "It's okay Ren." She said making the black haired boy relax a little before she turned to Nora. "Yes I am a lesbian if that's what you're about to ask."

Nora blushed a little as she looked at the table.

"So when you say Weiss. You don't mean Weiss Schnee do you?" Jaune asked after a moment.

Ruby nodded. "The one and only."

The others at the table all started at her.

"You dated the Heiress to the Schnee dust company?" Ren asked, a little shocked.

Ruby nodded. "Uh-huh," she said with a smile. "For about four years. Though we were sought of dancing around each other for a while before that."

"S-so why did you break up?" Nora asked a little hesitantly.

Ruby shrugged. "It was a bunch of things really." She said as she once again began staring off into space. "When it was just us things were perfect, but those moments were few and far between, I was going through training and Weiss was moving up within the company, we started seeing each other less and less, even though we lived together and we spent just as much time arguing as anything else. Eventually we just decided that it wasn't working. I mean it's not like we hated each other or anything like that, the break up was mutual and we talked about it like adults, which was nice, we just didn't have the same spark we used to. I still love her but we just don't work well together. So after that she moved back in worth her family and I moved back in with Yang, I guess after a while she got sick of me moping around the house in my spare time so she sent me over here."

The others all looked at her, a little shocked at how casually she had shared such personal information, but for Ruby it was about copping. She knew she'd never really get over Weiss if she couldn't talk about it.

Sensing the awkwardness on the rise Juan deftly deflected the conversation onto Ren and Nora and began querying them on why they had become Hunters.

The night went by at a comforting place as they drank and ate and generally had a good time. Ruby laughed along with the lot of them as they joked about this and that and talked about work.

It was near 11 when Ruby's phone went off.

"One sec guys." Ruby said as she held her phone to here year.

"This is Rose." She said.

"Ms Rose there is an emergency down two. Confirmed three Semblance users. The response team needs help." The operator told her.

Ruby's expression changed in an instant. "Roger that, I'll be there in ten, tell them to hold tight."

Her sudden change had gotten every ones attention. As she stood up she turned to Ren and Nora. "You two load up. There's a problem down town." She told them.

They nodded and stood up. Ren looking as passive as ever while Nora looked like it was her birthday.

"Hey Ruby are you sure, they're yet to be-." Jaune began.

"They're here and they're Hunters." She told him. "It's their job and there's no better way to test them then in the field." She said as she turned to the two of them. "Let's go. You're scrolls should have all the information you need." They nodded as the three of them made for the door. Jaune and the others also got up to leave.

Ruby had taken all of two steps before she ran into someone. There was the sound of breaking glass as Ruby tumbled to the ground with someone, alcohol and ice going everywhere.

There was a general commotion as the two fell to the ground, Ren and Nora tried to help but she waved them off. "Get going I'll catch up." She said as she forced herself up, wiping what alcohol she could off of her clothes. "Look I'm really sorry about that." she said as she turned to look at who she'd run into.

The woman didn't look all too pleased and ignored Ruby's hand as she stood up looking at her own out-fit.

Ruby blushed as she looked into the annoyed amber eyes of the other woman. She went to say something but before she could even formulate a word Ruby shoved a handful of cash into the woman's hand.

"Look I'm really sorry about that, and I'm sorry about this but I really do have to run. I'm sorry about that, but this should cover the cleaning bill hope you have a good night." Ruby blathered as she bolted from the door, leaving the perplexed woman standing there with a rather large sum of money.

* * *

><p>Ruby arrived on sight with Ren and Nora a few minutes later. There were three perpetrators keeping the response team at bay with a mixture of heavy fire power and their own semblances. From behind the red face mask Ruby turned to Ren and Nora.<p>

She dug her Scythe into the wall next to her and stood on it, casually leaning against the wall.

"All right kids, show me what you got." Ruby said.

The two stood there for a moment before they exchanged looks.

"You sure?" Ren asked.

Ruby nodded. "You'll be fine, and if things go wrong I'll bail you out. You're here to learn, and this is the best way. So hurry up, the response team needs help."

Ren and Nora nodded before looking at each other again as if speaking telepathically. A moment later they burst into action.

From the roof Ruby watched on approvingly.

"Not bad, not bad at all." She mumbled to herself as Ren and Nora made short work of the three perpetrators.

* * *

><p>Ruby sighed to herself as she walked into her usual coffee shop. The mission last night had been easy but the paper work had been annoying to say the least. Especially since she had to have it all in within two hours of the event meaning Nora, Ren and Herself had had to head back to the office to fill out all the necessary forms.<p>

And as expected she'd been on call the rest of the night with the two of them doing all the minor work that came with being a hunter. She hadn't slept all night and she desperately needed a coffee before she faced her last day of dreaded paper work for the week.

She yawned as she walked into the coffee shop, coming face to face with a familiar set of amber eyes.

Ruby stared at the other woman for a moment perplexed, her sleep deprived mind tried to remember where she'd seen them before.

The eyes became more annoyed as Ruby continued to stare at them and then it all came back to her. With a start Ruby jumped back a deep blush coming to her face.

"H-hey." She said meekly.

The woman didn't seemed too please with her.

"Hey," She muttered irritably as she made her way past Ruby.

Ruby stood there awkwardly as several patrons looked on in interest. Ruby forced herself to take a deep breath before she followed the woman out of the café.

"H-hay, wait." Ruby called out.

The woman sighed in irritation as she turned to face Ruby. Now that she actually had time to look at her, Ruby realised just how beautiful to woman was. Deep amber eyes, complimented nicely with purple eyeliner, a black bow, vest and black and purple leggings.

She gave Ruby an annoyed glare which was supposed to scare her off, something that would have normally worked but in her sleep deprived state Ruby missed the intent.

"Look, uh, about last night, I am really sorry about what happened." She said sheepishly. "I know it was rude of me to just knock you over and bolt like that, a-and I-I'd like to make it up to you if I can." She mumbled.

With woman raised an eyebrow. "Make it up to me?" She repeated surprised by what Ruby was saying.

"Y-yea," Ruby muttered. "I mean it w-was rude of me to do what I did, and I do feel bad about it." She said not realising she was repeating herself.

"And how would you make it up to me?" The woman asked her.

"W-well," Ruby began as he nervously played with her hands "I really feel like I should pay for your dry cleaning and I owe you another drink."

Despite how annoyed she had been mere moments ago the other woman smiled softly at the remark as she reached into her hand bag. "Well you already did that." She said with sly grin. "In fact I probably have enough here to pay for all my drinking and dry-cleaning for the rest of the year." She held up the substantial wad of cash for Ruby to see and Ruby felt her heart sink as she saw just how much she'd handed over to the other woman.

"Though," She continued at length. "I do think this was a bit much." She said before tossing the money back at Ruby. "I already paid for the dry cleaning, I'm actually glad I ran into you, I felt bad about keep all that money."

Ruby smiled weakly as she slipped the money back into her wallet. "T-thanks for that, a-and again, really sorry."

The woman smiled at her. "It's okay," She said.

Ruby relaxed a little bit, safe in the knowledge that the other woman was no longer mad at her. However she felt the all too familiar butterflies in her stomach. Butterflies she had first felt when she had met Weiss all those years ago.

"So tell me." The Woman said after a long pause. "How would you make it up to me?"

Ruby was silent for a moment. "W-well I guess I could take you out to dinner…" She mumbled.

The woman raised an eyebrow at her.

"Or drinks!" Ruby burst out hurriedly. "Yea that; drinks!" She said in an almost panicked voice.

The woman looked at her confused before smiled. "Okay then, meet me at O'Hallerens at seven, and don't be late." She said as she began walking off.

Ruby couldn't help but smile at the turn of events. At best she had hoped the woman would have accepted some form of apology, but instead she got a date.

Well not a date. Ruby corrected herself. Just a chance to make it up to her.

"Hey wait!" Ruby called out just before the black haired woman disappeared. "I didn't get your name!"

The woman offered her a smirk. A smirk that made Ruby's stomach do a flip and made her cheeks turn red.

"It's Blake." She replied before she walked off.

Ruby smiled to herself as she turned around. "Blake huh, that's a cute name."

With a new found energy Ruby ordered her coffee and called Jaune.

"Hey Ruby." Jaune answered chipper-ly.

"Hey Jaune, I won't be in today." Ruby said as she made her way home.

"What why?" Jaune asked a little surprised.

"I have a thing," Ruby answered.

"You…have a thing…?" Jaune replied befuddled. "…What?!"

"Well I've got plans for tonight." Ruby elaborated.

"And plans for tonight stop you from coming in today because?" Jaune left his sentence hanging.

Ruby sighed. "Jaune in the last 30 hours I've slept about two, and know I've got, well it's not really a date, more of an apology, but that's not the point." Ruby went on incoherently for another minute or so before Jaune spoke up.

"Yea okay Ruby, point made." Jaune said. "But you still have paperwork to do." He said.

Ruby sighed. "I know, but I can do that tomorrow. As long as it's done by weeks end I'm set , there is not set I have to be in these days thing going."

Jaune sighed in defeat. "Yea okay, you win. Get some sleep and have fun on your date."

"Don't jinx it!"

Jaune only laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>S'up friendlies. <strong>

**Sorry this update took so long, I've been lazy among other things.**

**Hope this tides you over till I've added more stuff. **

**Until next time I Wish you all the best.  
>Yours truly.<br>Nicolai Grey.**


	3. It's not a date

True to her word Ruby was not late, in fact she was early, very early. An hour to be precise. She found an out of the way table that was easily visible from the door and sat down, nursing a light beer.

She was nervous, very nervous. She kept trying to convince herself that this was not a date. She was just doing this to make it up to Blake.

But every time she thought about the other woman, she felt the butterflies again as she remembered those beautiful amber eyes, her long legs and her – _no bad brain, PG13! PG13! _ Ruby all but screamed at herself internally.

The hour stretched on for an eternity but eventually it was over. She spotted the familiar bow out the window and sat up straighter as she hurriedly passed her empty glass off to a passing waiter.

There was a moment of silence as Blake entered.

_Damn._ Thought Ruby. _She knows how to make an entrance._

Blake casually walked through the door, he arm elegantly holding it open as she all but sauntered into the room, carefully and quickly placing one foot in front of the other in a way that made her hips sway enticingly.

Ruby's jaw hung open slightly as Blake smiled at her and walked over. A few patrons offering her cat calls as she passed.

She was wearing a purple bow with a matching crop top and arm warmers with black shorts and leggings.

She smiled at Ruby as she sat down.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked as she took her seat.

Ruby sat there for a few seconds before her mind came back from the deepest depths of her libido and she finally shut her jaw. "Uh, sure," She mumbled.

_You idiot! _She bemoaned to herself as Blake offered her a smile.

"Y-you look great Blake." Ruby said after a moment.

Blake smiled at her. "Thank you….I'm sorry I didn't actually get your name earlier today."

"Oh, it's Ruby, Ruby Rose." Ruby said in the same sheepish tone as before.

Blake smiled at her. "Well Ruby, it's nice to meet you properly this time, I'm Blake, Blake Belladonna." She said, never dropping her smile. Ruby smiled back, blushing a little as she stared into those amber eyes.

"So where you waiting long?" Blake asked looking at her watch.

Ruby shook her head. "No, just got her a little while ago." She lied.

Blake smiled at her. "Good, I was afraid I was going to keep you waiting." She said.

Ruby smiled back. "So, uh, I guess, uh, that I, uh, owe you that drink now…" Ruby mumbled nervously as she scratched the back of her head.

Blake nodded. "I guess you do." She said.

"So, uh, what do you want?" Ruby asked.

"A screaming orgasm would be nice." She said with a playful wink.

Ruby's brain melted. "A wha-?" She asked.

Blake smiled. "Scotch on the rocks." She said.

Ruby nodded as she stood up. "Okay, I'll be right back." She said with a nervous laugh before walking off to the bar. She took a deep breath and ordered two. She wasn't usually one for hard liquor but damn was she gonna need it tonight.

Blake watched her go with a smile playing on her lips. She rested her hand in her palm as she watched the red head walk away. Tonight was going to be fun.

As Ruby came back to the table Blake sat up a little straighter sticking her chest out a little as Ruby gave her her drink.

She smiled as the red heads silver eyes lingered for just the right amount of time.

"Thanks," Blake said as she took a sip.

"Don't mention it." Ruby said.

The conversation hit a lull as they sat the for a moment drinking before Blake spoke up. "So just out of curiosity, what were you doing with so much cash on you last night?"

Ruby smiled nervously as she took another sip in a vain attempt to dodge the question. "Well I moved here from Vale recently and I didn't really know how much I needed." She mumbled awkwardly.

"So you emptied your account?" Blake asked.

"No," Ruby said drawing out the word as she took another sip. "I just took out a little more than was necessary." She said.

Blake smiled at her. "I could see that." She said playfully. "So why did you move here?" Blake asked.

"Oh I got transferred here for work." Ruby told her.

Blake nodded, "What do you do?"

"Oh I work for the power grid." Ruby said, using the cover story she'd been given for any and all civilian interactions about her work.

"And that had you running out the door?" Blake asked.

Ruby blushed even deeper as she remembered the event Blake was referring too. "Yea, it was kind of an emergency with the programing and they needed me to come in immediately to fix it." She said.

Blake nodded.

"So uh, what about you?" Ruby asked, a little more confidently. "Why'd you move to Baleworth?"

Blake shrugged. "Well after what happened in Ferren-Port here was one of the few places I could find work."

"You lived in Ferren-Port?" Ruby asked, a little shocked.

Blake shrugged. "Not really I had just moved there for work, and the next thing I knew half the cities been taken out and I'm out of a job, eventually I found someone willing to hire me here so I packed up what little I had and moved here." She said.

Ruby nodded. "So what is it that you do?" She asked.

"I'm a biologist." Blake answered. "Ferren-Port had a really high end research lab but it was levelled by the blast, luckily enough the university here was hiring." She said.

"So how long have you been here?" Ruby asked.

"Just got here yesterday." Blake told her. "You?"

"I got here about two months ago." Ruby told her. "I-if you want I'd be able to show you around. I know some really good out of the way places." Ruby said. approaching the topic nervous and half-heartedly, ensuring an easy escape if the idea was shot down.

Blake smiled at her.

Ruby just loved seeing that smile.

"So where to first?" Blake asked as she finished her drink and stood up.

"Where what?" Ruby asked, completely lost.

"Well you said you wanted to make it up to me." Blake said with a smile. "The drink was a nice start, so how about I take you up on the offer of you showing me around?"

"Oh a sure, of course," Ruby said as she finished off her drink. Blake smiled and offered her hand to Ruby.

The red head took it hesitantly; Blake offered her a reassuring smile as she linked her fingers with Ruby's. "Lead the way." She said with a smile. Ruby smiled back and began leading her out of the Bar, ignoring the catcalls coming from some of the other patrons. She kept her head low in an attempt to hide the blush that was growing on her cheeks as her heart thundered in her chest.

The cool night air was a welcome relief to Ruby as she took a deep relaxing breath. She turned to look at Blake and the woman returned the favour, allowing the two to simply look into each-other's eyes for a moment or three.

Ruby felt her heart calm a little and her head clear. She could do this. She thought to herself. "So what are you in the mood for?" Ruby asked as she began walking down the street.

"Well I'm kind of hungry." Blake said.

"How hungry?"

"Hmm, peckish," Blake said like she was asking herself a question.

"Well I know this great sushi place a few streets down, they're usually open pretty late." Ruby said.

"Lead the way." Blade said gesturing down the street.

The walked in silence for a little bit before Blake pipped up. "So tell me; what do you do besides work?" She asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Not all that much really. I'm emergency staff so I'm on call 24/7 which is detrimental to any type of hobby so if I'm not working I'm either watching crappy TV or at the gym." She told her.

Blake nodded. "I see, bit of a gym junky then?"

"More or less. It keeps me doing stuff and considering how horrible my diet is it's the only reason I walk instead of roll." Ruby joked.

Blake chuckled lightly and continued walking.

"So what about you?" Ruby asked. "What do you do for fun?"

"I read mostly." Blake said after a short pause. "If I'm not working I'm usually at home with my face buried in a book."

"So you don't get out much either then?" Ruby asked.

Blake shook her head. "Not overly so." She said.

Ruby smiled as the two talked about this and that as they walked down to the small sushi stand. They ate a little and asked each other various questions about their lives.

"So, you have any siblings?" Ruby asked.

Blake shook her head. "No, you?"

Ruby nodded a smile coming to her face as she thought of her sister. "Yea, I have an older sister Yang, she lives in Vale."

Blake smiled as she saw the happy glint in Ruby's eyes. "So tell me about her." She said as she gently rubbed her leg against Ruby's. The Red head took a moment to respond as her consciousness had to fight against her libido for speaking privileges.

"Oh Yang, well she's, well, Yang." Ruby said disjointedly as she tried to compose herself.

Blake nodded along like the fragmented sentence had made perfect sense. "So what does she do?" Blake asked her, gently letting her leg drop to the floor.

Ruby smiled nervously. "Same as me." She told her. "Upper management stuff. She was the one who reassigned me here." Ruby told her.

Blake gave her a curious look. "And why was that?" She asked. "Sending your sister to the other side of the kingdom hardly seems like a sisterly thing to do."

Ruby shrugged. "There was more to it than that." She replied. "Though initially I did try to play that guilt trip card. She didn't do it to get rid of me."

"Then why did she do it?"

"To give me some space and some time to think." Ruby told her. Blake raised an eyebrow at her so Ruby elaborated. "Well, you see a few months ago I broke up with my Girlfriend…Well it wasn't so much that I broke up with her but more that we just couldn't keep it together…Things just sort of, fell apart, and well, my sister gave me a promotion and gave me an important job and told me that I should just try to take it easy for a few months and try to move on."

"So she sent you here?"

Ruby offered Blake a week smile. "Yang's hearts in the right place but sometimes she's a bit off the mark in terms of emotional support." Ruby told her.

"She sounds nice." Blake told her.

Ruby smiled. "She is I think you'd like here." She said. "In small doses anyway,"

Blake chuckled as the two continued to eat.

The rest of Ruby's night went on in a blissful dream as she and Blake walked all over town, dancing, drinking and just generally having a good time. Ruby found herself laughing and smiling the whole time. Her happiness only intermittently broken when Blake did something seemingly innocuous that sent Ruby's mind into her crotch.

It was coming on three in the morning when Ruby finally walked Blake back to her apartment.

"Well this is me…" Blake said, somewhat awkwardly as the two stood outside the building not knowing what to do next.

"Yea…" Ruby said, for no other reason than to say something. "I-I hope you had a fun time…" Ruby said, her demeanour rapidly changing to the more sheepish state that she had started the night with.

Blake offered her a reassuring smile. "I did, thank you Ruby, I really appreciate you showing me around like this." She said.

Ruby blushed as she offered her a smile. "Well it was nothing, glade I could make it up to you." She said.

Blake chuckled. "You certainly did that." She said.

There was another long moment where the two didn't have anything to say to each other so they just stood there swaying on their feet awkwardly for a few moments before Ruby spoke up.

"Well it's really late, so I guess I'll let you get some sleep." She said.

"Oh, uh, yea…" Blake mumbled, looking slightly dejected as she turned away from Ruby heading up the steps.

Ruby looked at the girl puzzled. It had felt like she'd been trying to flirt with her the whole night but she'd never actually done anything to really try to get Ruby to notice it. Most of her more mature thoughts – though she'd hardly call them that – came up because of her growing up with Yang.

_I really hope I'm reading this right._ Ruby said to herself as she moved.

"Blake, wait." Ruby called out.

The black haired woman turned around just in time to see Ruby closing the last few inches between them, planting a soft but powerful kiss on her lips.

Blake was too shocked to react. She just stood there stiff as a board eyes wide, but after a moment her eyes fluttered closed as she allowed herself to relax a little bit. The kiss seemed to last for ever but eventually ruby pulled away looking into Blake's eyes.

Blake was at a loss for words. She just stood there staring at Ruby her mouth slightly open. Ruby tried several times to say something but each time she just tripped over her own words. All the while Blake just stood there.

Now it was Ruby's turn to feel rejected as she hung her head and slunk away from her. "I-I'm sorry about that." She whispered sadly as she turned around.

She was stopped two steps down by a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be." Blake said as she turned her around and kissed her.

For Ruby the sudden kiss was just too much and her higher brain functions took a leave of absence.

_This must have been how Blake felt_. Ruby mused to herself as she kissed her back. When the two finally stepped away from each other they could barely look at one another without blushing.

"W-well, I-I'll call you tonight." Ruby said nervously as she turned away only to turn around again immediately. "B-but I don't have your number." She mumbled tapping her fingers together.

Blake sent her a devilish smile. "Check your pockets." She told her.

Confused Ruby reached her hand into her pockets eventually finding a slip of paper in her back pocket. On it was a name and a phone number.

"When did you…?" Ruby began completely shocked. She may have been a little absent minded at times but she always kept her surrounding in check, she always knew when someone or something was near her. How the hell had Blake managed to slip her number into her back pocket?

Blake offered Ruby a mischievous smile as she opened the door to the apartment complex, looking back at her before she entered.

"That's for me to know, and you to obsess over." She said before closing the door behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>'Sappening Friendlies?! <strong>

**Hope you guys liked this chapter. Over the next few chapters I'm going to delve both into Ruby and Blake's relationship as well as Ruby's job because trust me there is a plot to all of this, as convoluted and ill connected as it may be. **

**So there will be more exposition in later chapters as Ruby takes Ren and Nora under her wing as Hunters, while also getting closer to Blake. hopefully this will all come together in the end but i sadly cant make any promises the connecting themes is there but I'm not entirely sure how to make each event flow into the next naturally, so at times this may feel a little forced and every now and again there will be long lulls in the update period. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review if you enjoyed or have any questions about my convoluted thinking structure I may or may not be able to answer you.**

**Until nest time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours truly.<br>Nicolai Grey. **


	4. Events in motion

The next morning Ruby practically skipped into the office, smiling like a kid in a candy store as she made her way to her office. Needless to say more than a few people were talking to each other about the rather drastic change in mood.

"So I take it the date went well?" Jaune asked Ruby as he walked into her office.

"It went great." Ruby said wistfully as she burned through her paperwork.

Jaune smiled at her as he handed her another set of forms to sign before taking the ones he need to complete. "Well that's good; I haven't seen you with a smile that big before. You get her number?" He asked.

Ruby looked up at him. "And what makes you think it was a _her?_" Ruby asked him.

Jaune gave her a knowing grin, playing along with her little game. "Well partially because you admitted that's the way you swing." He said casually. "And also because, you said you were making it up to someone, so unless you knocked over someone else and bolted I'd say it was the woman from the bar the other night." Jaune said.

"How perceptive of you." Ruby said.

Jaune smiled at her. "Well I may not be a field Hunter but I wasn't put in charge of the city due to a technical error." He said as he passed off some paperwork to a passing worker.

Ruby nodded. As she finished another set of forms and witness reports.

"So you going to see her again?" Jaune asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Hopefully, haven't called her yet." She said.

Jaune nodded. "Well best of luck Ruby, I hope this works out for you." He said as he walked out.

"Thanks." Ruby called out as he left. "I hope so too." She added to herself as she went back to her work.

The day moved on rather quickly as Ruby went about her usual office work with a blissful smile on her face the whole way through. It was after sunset when Ren and Nora made their way to her office.

"You wanted to see us ma'am?" Ren asked as the two entered.

Ruby nodded. "Yes I did, and I told you to call me Ruby." She told them as they sat down. "Anyway, I would have done this yesterday but stuff came up." She began. "First off let me congratulate you on your work the other night, you two did a fantastic job of cleaning up the incident."

"It was nothing." Nora said happily.

Ruby grinned. "I'm sure it wasn't. Anyway, I called you here to give you your roster for the coming weeks." Ruby told her.

"Roster?" Ren asked a little confused.

Ruby nodded. "Yes, over the next two months I'm assigning you to a response team each that does civic sweeps during the night and day, making sure every things okay, all the basics." She told them.

They both nodded as she handed each of them a folder containing their assignments for the next eight weeks.

"So what about you?" Ren asked as they looked everything over.

"My work is a little different to yours." Ruby began. "As junior Hunters you're treated as response team leaders and field operatives. When you graduate and become fully fledged Hunters then you're roles become slightly different."

"How?" Nora asked.

"Primarily I deal with the more organised side of things." Ruby told them. "I still do city sweeps like the two of you but I usually do them at night, I also do a lot more investigative work."

"Into what?"

"Grim's and Grim cults usually," Ruby told them. "Unlike any other type of organised crime that may have one or two semblance users – or grim as we call them – in their command a Grim Cult is a small group of several semblance users all of which are considered deadly threats. As a hunter my job – and one day yours – will be to gather Intel and observe these groups and act against them. On average a cult only has a few members that come together for a common goal, in such cases we usually take them out one at a time."

"Take them out?" Nora asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Our main objective is to capture them and hand them over to HQ for processing, however if they refuse or are too dangerous HQ may give a kill order." She told them.

"Kill order?" Ren asked.

Ruby nodded. "I know its a little dark, but on some occasions a person's actions or the threat they represent to the people of not only the kingdom but the world make them too dangerous to be left alive. In those circumstances as Hunters you may be ordered to kill certain individuals." She told them.

"So we're executioners?" Ren asked.

Ruby shook her head. "No." She told him flatly. "We may have to kill in the line of duty but Kill Orders are rare to say the least. Very few people actually present enough of a threat to be hunted down. But there is something I want you both to remember, while you're on your sweeps and after you've become fully fledged Hunters you will fight people who intend to kill you, and in those situations you have to be ready to do anything you can to survive, this is a dangerous job, and sometimes people don't come back."

There was an awkward silence as Ren and Nora sat there for a moment digesting everything that Ruby said.

"Anyway, now that that's settled I want you two to gear up." She told them.

"What for?" Nora asked.

"The three of us are going on a patrol of the city." She told them. "Tonight's usually pretty busy and we still have a civic duty to uphold. So grab your things and meet me on the roof in ten." She told them.

They both nodded. "Yes Ma'am." They said before walking out.

* * *

><p>The air craft zoomed lower over the city than any other but most people didn't even notice it as it drifted across the night sky.<p>

From her position next to the door Ruby watched the city go by as her expert eyes searched for any sign of danger.

"Ma'am, we're receiving an emergency beacon from a convoy outside the city." The pilot said.

Without having to be told the pilot changed course and opened the channel so Ruby and the others could hear the distress call.

"I repeat this is Alpha, Echo, 909, I am under attack and need immediate assistance."

"Rodger AE909, this is Crescent Rose, I'm on my way." Ruby said into the ear piece.

As the pilot lined up the trajectory Ruby looked at her two companions. "Hold on," She warned them.

The two complied but before they could ask why the pilot gunned the engines and the aircraft took off, Ruby felt her arm strain as the ship hit max speed in a few seconds.

Nora and Ren both hit the back wall, thankfully smart enough to not move. They reached the convoy within a few minutes the pilot slowing down to line up their approach.

AE909 was a large transport ship, a freighter just over three miles off the coast loaded with Dust and other equipment. None of the guard craft were with it and as soon as the ship was in line of sight Ruby saw why. The pilot banked right as someone on the ship opened up with the defensive AA emplacements.

"Hold on!" The pilot roared as he avoided the shots and pulled off.

"Get us within spitting distance." Ruby ordered as she readied her namesake. "Second we're out you get out of range and call for back up." Ruby told him. The distress call from the freighter had gone dark a few seconds after the pilot had received it, and if she didn't get another call out then it was unlikely this would be reported for another few hours.

The pilot nodded as he pulled in again, preforming a strafe over the ship.

"GO!" Ruby thundered as she dived out of the ship onto the deck of the freighter. Nora and Ren landed behind her. "Magnhild, Stormflower, take out the AA emplacements and clear the deck." She told them.

"And you?" Ren asked.

"I'm heading to the helm; cover me as best you can."

"Yes Ma'am." The two chorused before Ruby dashed off in a shower of rose petals.

There were probably a dozen hostile on the ship each dressed in the same gear, carrying a sword and gun each.

Nora leapt into the fray her hammer at the ready while Ren covered her with his SMG's the fighting was hot and heavy as half of the assailants dealt with the two hunters and the rest tried unloading as much cargo as they could.

Eventually they had to ditch that too as the two of them overwhelmed their opponents.

The fight only took a few minutes but to the two of them it felt much longer. But eventually the last guard fell flat.

They both took a minute to regain their breath before they heard the sound of gunfire from deeper in the ship. Ruby most likely.

They went to investigate but the sound of footsteps against the ship's deck caught their attention. A lone woman walked towards them.

She was dressed differently to the others with a simple buttoned up crop top and leggings. Like her accomplices she wore a half mask that covered her eyes and nose, but unlike the others this one wrapped around her head like Ren and Nora's topped off with a pair of cat ears.

She sighed to herself as she looked at them. "How I hate hunters." She uttered as she pulled back on the cross guard of her sword folding the blade down to reveal a pistol.

They may have been tired but there was little chance of a bullet actually catching either of the two hunters, as she forced them to take cover.

They dived behind a shipping container as the woman continued to force their heads down.

"So what do we do about her?" Ren asked. "She's clearly a Grim." He said.

"What's her semblance?" Nora asked.

Ren shrugged. "No idea, don't recognise he." He said.

Nora nodded as she prepared her hammer. "Watch yourself." She warned as she brought the hammer against the shipping container.

The grenade exploded and the container was thrown back, the woman dived to the side coming to her feet just as Ren came in close, burying one of the blades of Stormflower into the woman's shoulder. The blow was solid but just before the blade touched skin the woman stepped back out of herself and as Ren brought his leg in to trip her she faded like mist.

She stepped in while Ren was off guard bringing her blade for his throat but Nora stepped in to catch the blade.

She let off another round and the two retreated from their newest attacker.

She seemed un-fazed by the blast, leisurely running her fingers through her black hair. "So what do I call you?" She asked them as she pulled a seconds blade off her back.

"Stomrflower,"

"Magnhild,"

Ren and Nora replied respectively.

"What about you?" Ren asked.

"You can call me Gambol Shroud." The woman purred as they fight began again.

* * *

><p>Fighting her way inside the ship was easy. The attackers may have been enough to take out standard guards but a fully-fledged hunter like herself was something else entirely.<p>

She fought her way to the bridge with little resistance, two quick cuts and a boot later the door to the ships helm was on the floor and Ruby entered the room.

There was one man there, waiting for her. He sat against the helm leisurely twiddling his cane in his fingers. He took the cigar out of his mouth and smiled as he let the smoke curl past his lips.

"Red?" He said, sounding genuinely surprised. "Oh, my, god, what are you doing here?" He asked her, sounding genuinely curious and excited.

Ruby frowned as she looked at the man. "Melodic Cudgel, what are you doing _here?_" Ruby asked sounding equal parts disappointed and tired. She added extra enfasis on her last words, emphasising she wanted to know why he was here of all places.

"Oh you know the usual, stealing things, breaking the law." He said in his usual carefree tone. "Met some really good people up around these parts, some really good operations going on, so what about you. Why are you out here?" He asked her in a slightly darker tone.

"It's my job." She replied coldly. "Just give it up. I've beat your ass before and I'll do it again. And judging by the sound outside my team is probably already done by now." Ruby said.

Cudgel chuckled. "Oh come on red, didn't I just say I met some new people. This isn't my opp, I'm just running maintenance." He said.

The sound of fighting started up again and Ruby felt a pang of doubt. Ren and Nora were well trained but they were still rookies. If they ran into a criminal like Melodic cudgel or worse a Grim then they'd be in serious danger.

"Well then if that's the case then I guess I'm just going to take you out and check on them." She said.

Cudgel frowned as he rolled back over the railing of the helm only narrowly avoiding Ruby's scythe.

"Ooo, so close." He said as he levelled his cane and opened fire. Ruby ducked as the blast took one of he side doors off its hinges and over the edge of the ship. She flicked her blade and set off, firing the rifle for extra kick as she brought the flat of the scythe against his head.

Melodic cudgel blocked the blow at the last minute with his cane as he was sent into the wall.

He shook himself, dazed by the attack. "Well I gotta say Red, there's still no fighting you. But I don't really have to worry about that, I've got a friend who's more than capable of keeping you occupied." He mumbled as he forced himself to his feet.

"If you would my dear." He said bowing to the doorway.

Ruby swore to herself as she spun on her heal bringing her scythe around, cutting nothing but empty air and metal. She swore again realising he'd tricked her and finished the spin without a pause as she prepared to attacked him again.

Melodic cudgel was already at the window. "So long Red!" He shouted as he pulled out a detonator. Ruby didn't bother checking the room as she charged out the doorway in a wash of rose petals. The charges blew a second later throwing Ruby over the railing as the helm exploded.

"Damn it!" Ruby swore to herself as she looked back at the burning ruin. She had no idea how many civilians were in there and how many were still trapped.

The sound of fighting brought her attention back to the rest of the ship as she saw a woman in black drop Magnhild.

Likewise StormFlower was also down.

"Shit," Ruby muttered as she fired her rifle for extra speed. The other woman looked up just in time to block the blade of Ruby's scythe, but the force was too much for the other woman to simply tank and she was sent flying backwards.

She hit a shipping container hard but regained herself quickly as she side stepped Ruby's next attack.

The two shared look for a moment before the other woman leapt into a frenzy of blade work. Ruby fell back step by step as she relied on years of skill and training to keep the other woman at bay.

She managed to get a thrust in, firing Crescent rose to throw herself at the other woman bringing herself against the face-mask the other woman wore.

She was thrown back but somehow stepped out of her own body as she flickered like a shadow to Ruby's left aiming a blade for the woman's ribs.

She blocked with her scythe as she brought the counter blade down on the other woman. Again the blow connected but the woman seemed to step out of herself both forms flickering like shadows as she jumped away tossing a grenade at Ruby.

The Huntress smacked it away like a baseball letting the device detonate harmlessly behind another set of crates.

Ruby readied herself to peruse the woman but an Airship came up over the lip of the ship. The Grimm woman spared her one last look before jumping aboard; the ship took off almost immediately leaving Ruby on the deck of the ship.

She let out a sigh as she collapsed her scythe; she guessed Melodic cudgel would be sporting enough to give her at least thirty seconds.

She quickly grabbed both Ren and Nora running to the lip of the ship grabbing a life preserver from the railing before diving over.

The rest of the ship blew a second before she hit the water, the blast propelling all three of them under the freezing waters.

She broke the water with a gasp as she struggled to the other two from drowning.

An airship came in only a few seconds later dropping a harness for her and the others.

She secured Ren and Nora first making sure they were hoisted up before she pulled herself out of the water.

She shivered as she was brought into the airship and a blanket was thrown around her by one of the other grew. "Thanks," She mumbled. "How far out is back up?" She called to the pilot.

"Two minutes ma'am." He called back. "Ruby nodded. "Begin searching for other survivors." She ordered.

The crew only nodded as the airship began is thorough low flying over the wreckage. Ruby sighed to herself as she took a seat.

Things were certainly getting interesting.

* * *

><p><strong>Sup friendlies?<strong>

** yay, another chapter. Hope you guys enjoy and sorry for the long update, but laziness, work, writers block, other projects. but I'm back, sort of, and hope to bring you guys a few more juicy chapters while I'm here. **

**And yes before you ask, I went there and that is a thing and you - just like the other characters - are going to have to deal with it and let this story play out.**

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this one, I'll hopefully have another one up this week and next week but you can't really hold me to that so just as batman would put it - DOWN SWEAR TO GOD! SWEAR TO ME!...yea that worked batter in my head grammatically, but i's too lazy to actually remove it. **

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours truly.<br>Nicolai Grey.**


	5. Complications

Ruby woke up groggily the next morning to the sound of her phone going off. With a sigh and a rather resentful groan, she forced herself out of the tangle of sheets that was her bed and grabbed her phone.

"What?!" She asked sounding unimpressed.

"Glad to know that's how you greet your boss." Yang said from the other side of the line.

Ruby moaned as she rolled over. "You're calling on your personal phone." She countered groggily.

"And how do you know that?" Yang asked, more for the sake of an argument more than she wanted to know.

"Yang," Ruby pleaded.

Although she couldn't see it, Ruby was pretty sure that the other woman was smiling on the other end of the line.

"I just called to see how you were doing, we haven't exactly talked much." She said.

"I've been busy," Ruby said as she forced herself to get out of bed. "Besides, you've been getting reports." She said.

"I know." Yang said. "But that doesn't tell me how _you're_ doing."

"I'm fine." Ruby said as she set the jug to boil.

"Just fine?" Yang queried sounding more than a little sad.

"It's been good." Ruby admitted. "The place is nice and quiet; I've made some good friends."

"Well that's good to hear." Yang said. "I was worried about you."

"Like I said I'm fine." Ruby replied as she made herself coffee.

"Great," Yang said. "So anyway, I've got a little time off, coming up in a week or so, so I was figuring I should pay you a little visit."

"Okay," Ruby said. "When exactly?"

"Not sure yet," Yang said. "Still got something I need to clear up, but once it's done, Ozpins giving me a few days off, so I'll let you know when I'm heading into town." She told her.

Ruby sighed. "Does it ever occur to you to plan something more than a few hours in advance?" She asked her.

"Well it's not like I have a set schedule." Yang countered. "Hell I might be halfway there before I need to make a U turn and sort out some other shit that just pops up out of the blue." She said.

"Fair point," Ruby agreed as she took a sip of her coffee. "Just keep me posted, at least a day before hand." She asked, though she doubted her sister would oblige such a request.

"See you when I see you," Yang said, not even acknowledging ruby's last request.

"Yea sure," Ruby said as they both hung up. She sighed to herself as she looked out her window, it was a nice day out; clear sky's a nice breeze. She looked at the clock on her wall and realised it was already three in the afternoon.

She took a deep breath and set her cup down noticing the scrap of paper with Blake's number on it. She instantly smiled as she thought about the other woman and picked up her phone, dialling her number.

It rang twice before Blake answered.

"This is Blake," She said in a monotone voice.

"H-Hey Blake, It's Ruby," She said a little nervously.

"Oh Ruby," Blake said in a sweeter tone. "I was wondering when you were going to call."

Ruby blushed. "Yea sorry about that," Ruby said apologetically. "I would have called yesterday but things got a little…Chaotic…at work."

Blake sighed and made a constant 'tut' sound. "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby," The Woman said in a breathy voice. "Didn't your father ever teach you not to keep a girl waiting?" She asked jokingly.

"He did," Ruby admitted as she began walking to her bathroom. "So anyway are you busy?" She asked.

"You mean right now or tonight?" Blake asked.

"Either." Ruby said.

Blake made a 'hmmm' sound as she thought. "Well I could go for lunch." She said.

Ruby smiled. "Great, I'll meet you at work."

"You know where I work?" Blake asked suspect.

"Well you did tell me you work at the university," Ruby countered.

"Hmm, I guess I did." Blake replied. "I'll see you when you get here." She said.

"Great, be there soon." Ruby said with a smile as she hung up.

"I'll be waiting." Blake purred.

Ruby couldn't help the smile that lit up her face as she rushed to her bathroom for a shower. Ten minutes later she was all but running out the door ready to meet Blake at the university. She was lucky it was only a few streets from her own place and was walking up the front steps just as Blake was walking out the front door.

"Hey," She said with a wave as Blake walked over to her.

"Hey," Blake replied smiling as she walked over to Ruby. Ruby stood before the woman sheepishly for a moment. As stupid as it sounded she didn't actually know what to do now. With Weiss things had been different she'd been a figure in the public eye and whenever they got together there was a strict set of guidelines that the two had to follow to stir up as little controversy as possible.

Blake saw the nervousness in her eyes and gave the other woman a reassuring smile as she gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"Good to see you." She said.

Ruby's blush deepened as she looked the other woman in the eye. "Y-you too," Ruby said. "You look great."

Blake smiled as she looked down at herself. She was still wearing her lab goat over a white blouse and skirt.

"So what did you have in mind?" Blake asked her.

"Well," Ruby began showing a bit more confidence. "What were you in the mood for? There's an all-day breakfast café just a few streets down, or there's your more traditional places." Ruby said.

Blake put a hand to her chin as she thought. "Well I did skip breakfast this morning." Blake said.

Ruby smiled. "It's like you read my mind." Ruby said as she began leading the way.

"Missed breakfast too then?" She asked.

"More like I haven't had anything yet." Ruby answered.

Blake raised an eyebrow at her. "It's three-thirty,"

"Well, I only woke up like five minutes before I called you." She admitted.

"You slept till three?"

"I went to bed at like five." Ruby said defensively.

Blake giggled softly to herself as she took Ruby's hand in her own. "Another emergency?" She asked.

Ruby nodded. "Yea a big one, was up all night." She said.

"They seem awfully common." Blake said.

"Well we're not only managing Vale," Ruby said. "We're contracted under the Schnee dust company so we also have grids in the other kingdoms as well." She replied.

"Well that makes more sense." Blake said.

The two continued their walk blissfully chatting to one another about the finer points of each other's job.

It was hard for Ruby at first, and it was only the years of experience that allowed her to keep up the façade. With Weiss it had been different. As the Heiress to the Schnee dust company and a major benefactor in the Hunting program across all four kingdoms she was privy to a large amount of information so Ruby talking about her job wasn't anything the Heiress couldn't just look up on whim.

They eventually made it to the diner and Ruby deftly flicked the subject of conversation onto Blake, secretly glade to be out of the spot-light.

"So what about you then?" She asked the black haired woman. "How's work been for you?" She asked.

"It's been good." Blake admitted. "I've been settling in nicely, I have my own lab, and the people I work with are pleasant enough."

Ruby nodded. "Well that's good," Ruby said. "It sucks coming into a new place if the people aren't easy to get along with."

"Speaking from experience?" Blake asked.

"Maybe," Ruby said with a casual shrug. The two smiled at each other as a waiter handed them each a menu.

The two managed to keep the conversation up for the better part of an hour as they traded topics on this that and the other, each time they broke a new topic they learned that little bit more about each other in that way that only came about once you'd met someone special.

Eventually though, like all good things, it came to an end. Ruby's phone went off, much to her dismay.

She pulled it out of her pocket and immediately recognised Jaune's number. "Hey Jaune" She said.

"Her Ruby," Jaune replied from the other end of the line. He sounded exhausted like he hadn't slept in a while. "Look sorry to be a bother but I need you in the office ASAP, Ren and Nora are awake and I need you to confirm a few details for me." He said.

"Yea, sure, I'll be right in." Ruby said.

"Work?" Blake asked.

Ruby nodded, "Yea sorry, but my boss needs to talk to me about the emergency last night." She said. Blake nodded her understanding as the two women paid for their meal.

As they left the diner Ruby managed the courage to give Blake a quick kiss. "I'll call you." She said.

Blake smiled at her. "I'll hold you to it." She said as she walked away.

Ruby watched the other woman walk away, a little sad that the lab coat she was wearing hid most of her body. The moment passed as she quickly hurried off to her office.

Jaune forced himself awake as Ruby walked through the door to his office. "Oh a Ruby glade you could make it." He said.

Ruby nodded. "So what did you need me for?" She asked as she sat down.

Jaune sighed as he sorted through the mass of paper work for a moment before finding the folder he was looking for.

"Well as you know I needed to confirm a few details about the incident last night." Jaune said as he pulled out Ruby's mission report she'd submitted the night before.

"Now you'll need to refresh my memory who is this Melodic Cudgel guy?" He asked.

"He's a jack of all trades when it comes to licit operations." Ruby told him. "He usually works out of Vale, the hunters there all know him by name. Arms deal's, robbery, slavery, you name it he's in it or at the very least knows it's going on."

"So he's a king pin?" Jaune asked.

Ruby shook her head. "Not quite," She told him. "He's more of a freelance operative. He likes to keep moving, if he settled down for too long we'd move in in force."

Jaune nodded. "Okay, thanks for that, I'll add it to my report, now what do you know about the Grimm that was there?" Jaune asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Nothing other than she's good in a fight. Never met her before and she didn't say anything to me."

Jaune nodded. "Okay, well I got a brief testimony from Ren and Nora after they woke up."

"How are they?" Ruby interrupted.

"They're doing fine." Jaune assured her. "A bit banged up, but they'll be fine in a week or so."

Ruby nodded relived.

"So anyway, they said that the woman identified herself as Gambol Shroud, now I've done some digging and I finally found something on the woman. She's a Grimm obviously, but one that's for the most part been left to her own devices, she's good but she's not considered a major threat, in fact before last night she was never actually attributed to a civilian death."

"Really?"

Jaune nodded. "Yep, on two separate occasions she went out of her way to avoid collateral damage like that and nearly got herself killed both times."

Ruby nodded. "So where's she from?"

"Outside the kingdoms." Jaune answered her. "Earliest reports of someone with that semblance was seen attacking a dust train two years ago. This is the first time she's acted within the Kingdoms proper."

"Any known affiliates?" Ruby asked him as she read through the file Jaune had handed her.

"Just one," Jaune said. "You know of Wilt and Blush?" He asked her.

Ruby nodded, the man was something of a legend through both Grimm and Hunters alike. "So she used to run with the guy?"

"Still does." Jaune replied. "We managed to pull half the crew out of the water and off the boat. Those that could give testimony reported seeing a man that matched Wilt and Blush's description on the ship arriving with Melodic Cudgel and Gambol Shroud."

"So the three of them are working together then," Ruby said with a sigh. "That's just fucking prefect." She bemoaned as she slumped down in her chair. "Have you sent off your report to HQ yet?" She asked.

Jaune shook his head. "Not yet, I wanted to get a few details sorted with you first."

Ruby nodded. "Okay, well in that case hold off on back up for now." Ruby told him.

Jaune raised an eyebrow at the statement. "Are you sure?" He asked.

Ruby nodded. "HQ's hard pressed at the moment so it will be hard for them to send us any real back up anyway. Wilt and Blush is a high priority target so is Melodic Cudgel since he's working for him. and I don't want them to stretch themselves too thin just yet."

"You think this is Wilt's operation?" Jaune asked.

"Most likely, though there may be someone else higher up. When I confronted Melodic Cudgel he mentioned that the raid on AE909 wasn't his operation. It was his _plan_, but he wasn't the one that wanted it done in the first place. He said he was working for some people in the area and that he was just running maintenance. I'll start my own investigation into the matter, get some hard facts before we send off to HQ for back up."

"You sure about that?" Jaune asked. "Going it alone is dangerous."

Ruby nodded. "I'm well aware of that but we don't have much of a choice. Once Ren and Nora are ready for field work I'll have them join me. As the Huntress assigned to Balewoth this is my job, once we have enough to go on proper I'll send word to HQ and we'll assemble a team for the hunt."

Jaune nodded. "Okay, well I technically have to differ to you in these situations so well do as you say. I'll send a report to HQ tomorrow with all the details."

"Thanks Jaune," Ruby said as she stood up.

"We're are you going?" He asked as she left.

"Going to pay Ren and Nora a visit. I feel kind of bad that I haven't seen them since we got back, plus I need to fill them in on what's going on." She said.

"Fair enough, be careful." Jaune said.

Ruby nodded. "I will."

* * *

><p><strong>Sup Friendlies?<strong>

**Man, 2 updates in as many day's, I'm spoiling you guys. Seem that I have finally gotten a good feel back for the story so I'll go as long as I can, hopefully finish it, but I don't want to jinx anything.**

**Basically with this story I want two separate story lines. One that involves Ruby and Blake's personal lives as well as one involving the mission between, Crescent Rose and Gambol Shrouds Grimm cult, and you call all guess where it's going but hopefully you'll be wrong. A predictable story just isn't as fun. **

**Reviews are always appreciated, they let me know you guys are invested in the story.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours truly.<br>Nicolai Grey.**


	6. Little black dress

It was her phone ringing that brought Ruby out of her automatous actions and back to reality. She'd been investigating the Grimm cult under Wilt and Blush for nearly a week now, and had gone into auto pilot as she read through reports by the dozens both from official sources and her less...reputable…contacts.

She was slowly but surely piecing together enough information to go off. She knew for a fact now that Wilt and Blush was the one in charge and Melodic Cudgel was merely 'along for the ride' as it were.

Her phone began to buzz and Ruby lazily held it to her ear as she continued to read through the report.

"Rose," She said as she deftly flicked through another report.

"Hey Ruby," Blake said from the other end of the line. Ruby's body stiffened at the sound of the other woman's voice.

"Oh, uh, hey Blake," Ruby said with a mixture of excitement and exhaustion.

"Is this a bad time?" Blake asked her.

"What, no, it's fine," Ruby assured her, stretching in her seat to clear her head. "What's up?"

"Well it's been a while since we met up last, and I was kind of hoping we could go out tonight." Blake said playing coy.

"Tonight?" Ruby asked sounding doubtful.

"If you're too busy I understand." Blake began, but Ruby quickly interrupted her.

"No, no, tonight's fine. I need to get out soon anyway or else I'm just going to crash and burn." Ruby assured her. "Besides I really do want to see you." She said.

"Okay, good," Blake said happily.

"So what were you thinking?" Ruby asked her.

"O'Hallerens at seven." Blake said. "Don't be late~." She said in a sing song voice.

Ruby allowed a grin to curl her lips. "Am I ever?" She asked.

"I'll see you tonight." Blake said before she hung up. Ruby smiled to herself as she went back to reading her reports humming gently to herself.

"Well someone's in a good mood." Jaune said as he walked into her office.

Ruby looked at him and smiled more. "I got a date." Ruby bragged.

Jaune offered her a smile. "Well good for you." He said as he set another stack of paperwork down. "Here are the reports you asked for.

Ruby nodded as she neatly organised the folders Jaune had just brought her throughout the ones already on her desk, flicking through the last one he had given here and taking out a page. "It will be good to get away from this for a few hours at least." She said as she handed the folder over to Jaune. "That's my initial report." She told him.

Jaune nodded. "Great, you could use a night off; you've been working yourself into the ground all week." He said as he took a seat. "So how's it been going between the two of you?" He asked.

"How's what been going?" Ruby asked completely missing Jaune's point.

He smiled. "The girl from the bar," He clarified. "At least that's who I assume you've been seeing these last two weeks."

"It's been great." Ruby said. "We've really only had one proper date so it will be good to finally have a night with her. Uninterrupted of course." She said levelling her gaze at Jaune.

Jaune smiled and held his hands up. "On my word as an Arch, should this city come under siege I shall deal with it personally. God only knows you deserve as much." He said. "Anything else you need?" He asked.

Ruby shook her head. "I got it from here. I'll be out at five thirty though so anything important has to be resolved before then or it's not my problem."

"Got it." Jaune said as he walked out of the door.

* * *

><p>Back at her place Blake hung up the phone and took a deep breath as she smiled to herself. "You can do this." She said to herself as she looked her reflection in the eye. She took another deep breath and walked out of her en suite and into her room. "Only question left is what to wear." She asked herself as she examined her half naked body in the mirror.<p>

With a sigh she began sorting through the handful of clothes she actually owned. Then she found it.

She took it out of her wardrobe and held it against herself in the mirror before smiling.

"She's as good as mine." Blake said slyly as she set it down on her bed.

* * *

><p>Ren and Nora very timely knocked on Ruby's door at 5:25 that afternoon.<p>

"You wanted to see us?" Ren began, still keeping with the formal tone he always used with her.

Ruby nodded. "Yes, good to see you, welcome back." Ruby said as she gestured for the two of them to take a seat. "How are you feeling?" She asked them.

"Could be worse." Ren said.

"Bored." Nora replied.

Ruby smiled. "Well I have something that should help with that." Ruby said. "I have assignments for you." She said handing each of them a mission briefing.

"Solo assignments already?" Ren asked.

Ruby nodded. "Hunting is a fast pace job," She told him. "You don't get as much time to relax as you'd like, so if you get some time spend it wisely." She told them, as the two began looking through the files Ruby continued. "We've got a lot on our plate with Wilt and Blush and his Cult so I need you two to gather some Intel on their movements." Ruby told them. "You're missions are for the most part identical but they'll each be on the other side of the city. Your parameters are to get as much information as you can on their movements without blowing your cover. Ren you've got north, Nora south. Best of luck." She told them.

"You really think we're ready for this?" Nora asked.

Ruby could see she was nervous, and she didn't blame her. She had the same nerves day in day out.

"My opinion on the matter is irrelevant." Ruby told them. She could see they were about to say something but she continued before they could. "Simple fact of the matter is thus. You may never be ready for some missions. But you're still going to have to do them. As a Huntress it is your duty to do the jobs other people can't do, and some times you're going to feel out of your depth, but all you can do is take a deep breath and keep moving, trust your instincts, remember your training. If you do that you might just surprise yourself." She told them. "I want the reports on my desk in 24 hours. Take whatever precautions you think are necessary; I've already given you both full access to the equipment locker. Don't overdo it. Remember that this is primarily a reconnaissance mission."

Both of them nodded as they all stood up. "Best of luck," She told them.

"We won't let you down." Nora said.

Ruby offered the girl a smile. "I suspect you won't." She said with a nod as she began walking out the door.

"If you don't mind my asking what are you going to be doing?" Ren asked her.

"I'm following my own advice." Ruby replied as she disappeared.

Ren and Nora exchanged glances. Took a deep breath, and headed down to the equipment locker.

* * *

><p>Just like their first date Ruby was early, though this time by five minutes not an entire hour. She forced herself to take a deep breath as she waited for Blake to arrive. She felt bad about giving Ren and Nora her assignments while she scampered off to see Blake but she had valid reasons for doing it.<p>

She knew they could do these jobs; they just needed to believe in their own abilities. Besides, things were about to become very, very hectic.

They needed the experience, and she needed to unwind.

She smiled as she thought of Blake, wondering what the woman had in mind for the night. The doors opened and Ruby's jaw dropped as she looked up. Blake smiled at he as she walked over to the table wearing a small black cocktail dress that hugged her body perfectly.

Ruby somehow managed to close her mouth by the time Blake made it to her table. "Sorry to keep you waiting." She said as she sat down.

"Wow." Was Ruby's only response.

Blake smiled.

"Glade you like it," The woman said.

Ruby tore her eyes away from her body and looked her in the eye. "Wow, Blake, you look amazing." Ruby said, suddenly feeling rather under-dressed for the occasion.

"Thanks, you do too." She said. "So how's work been treating you?"

Ruby's mentality switched in an instant as she groaned. "Been bending me over a fence," She said as she slumped against the table. "This is my first proper break that wasn't a glorified nap."

Blake offered her a sympathetic smile. "Sorry to hear that." She said as she reached out for Ruby's hand offering the girl a smile.

Ruby returned the smile as she enjoyed the sensation. "Still I'm glad I was able to see you again." She said.

Blake blushed slightly. "Me too." The two sat there for about half an hour chatting about this and that, each nursing their respective drinks.

"So what did you have planned for dinner?" Ruby asked as she finished her drink.

"Well I pass this really nice looking place every day heading to and from work, but I've never had an excuse to go there." She said.

"Sounds good," Ruby said as the two headed out the door.

The 'nice looking place' Blake had mentioned happened to be Signal Restaurant the most expensive and high end place in town.

"Uh, pretty sure these guys take reservations' like _years_ in advance. How exactly are we going to get a table?" Ruby asked her.

Blake smiled. "I have my ways." Blake said. The two walked up to the front counter and the waiter bowed to them respectfully.

"Belladonna, table for two," She said.

The man looked at the two of them for a moment his eyes lingering on Ruby before they fell to the registry in front of him. He nodded a moment later. "Right this way." He said gesturing for the two to follow him.

Ruby felt so incredibly out of place as she walked through the main dining area. She'd dressed nicely for her date with Blake but she'd also dressed casually in black pants and red shirt. She wasn't wearing the right close for this sort of establishment. Looking all too punk-rock compared to the sefisticated well groomed decorum of the establishment

Luckily for her they were taken to a private booth with a window view on the second floor. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as they sat down.

"You okay?" Blake asked her.

"I am so no dressed for a place like this. Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

Blake smiled. "I wanted to surprise you." Blake said. "Besides you look fine." She assured her as she poured them both a glass of wine.

Ruby smiled as she took the glass from her, enjoying the brief moment when their fingers touched.

"Thanks," She said.

"You can just make it up to me." Blake said.

"And how would I do that?" Ruby asked her.

"You said you have a sister right, tell me about her." Blake said as she leant over the table. Ruby smiled as her eyes dipped south of the jaw line for a second or two.

She suspected that had been deliberate.

"Hmmm, what can I say about Yang that won't have you running for the hills?" Ruby pondered aloud.

Blake giggled as Ruby kept up the charade. "Honestly, she'd a bit of a wild card. Loud, impulsive, always wanting to try something new. But she's sweet. She's got a good heart and she's someone you can rely on." She said. Blake smiled as she leant back in her seat.

"She sounds like a nice woman." She said as she gently rubbed Ruby's leg with her foot.

Ruby smiled. "She is," She said. "So what about you, you have any siblings?" She asked.

Blake shook her head. "No," She said a hint of sadness in her voice. "I grew up in a small town just outside of Vale." She said. "My dad left when I was little and my mum was always busy keeping the two of us fed." The woman's usual happy disposition gave way to a sadder tone until Ruby took her hand in her own.

"It's always hard when one of your parents disappears." She said in an empathetic tone.

"You too?" She asked.

Ruby nodded. "My mum died when I was four and my dad never was the same after that, but I was lucky enough to have Yang."

The two smiled at each other for a moment before they were interrupted by the waiter bringing them their menus.

"So just out of curiosity," Ruby said as she began looking through the menu. "What would you have done if I had been too busy to make it tonight?"

"Ordered their largest bottle of wine and keep sending you self-ies until you came." Blake replied casually.

Ruby couldn't help but laugh at that.

The night went on in a blissful tone as they two talked about this and that, though most of it came down to Ruby and Blake swapping storied about their child hood.

Even after the two had eaten and left they kept trying to one up each other with embarrassing or funny moments.

"So it was at that point, as desperate for attention as I was that I ran out into the front yard screaming, and completely naked." Ruby said.

Blake doubled over a she walked. "Are you serious?" She asked.

"What? I was three, it was my birthday and they'd been ignoring me all day. What else was I gonna do?" Ruby challenged.

Blake laughed even harder. "So then what happened?" She managed to ask between gasps.

"Well, as it turns out, they'd been preparing a surprise party for me." Ruby said, her cheeks reddening with the embarrassment of the memory. Part of her didn't want to continue, but she knew two things, one; if she didn't tell Blake, Yang most definitely would when she eventually came to town and two; she'd already gone this far and she knew Blake wouldn't let her stop now.

"You're kidding?"

"I wish." Ruby said.

"So who was there?" Blake asked.

"Just about everyone I knew." Ruby said, "Needless to say I ran straight back inside, but to this day I've never really lived it down.

"And you never will dear," Blake said as she worked her arm around Ruby's.

"Yea I figured as much." Ruby said as they came to the front door of her apartment building. "So this is me." She said, a little nervously, once again at a loss for what to do.

Blake nodded but said nothing, clearly letting Ruby make the next move, though the way she stood gave a clear indication as to where she wanted this night to go from here.

"So, uh, d-did you want to come in for some coffee?" She asked, as her mind fell back on bad weekday TV to try and concoct a solution to her conundrum.

Blake smiled at her devilishly. "I'd love to," She purred walking deliberately in front of Ruby. The Red head was stuck there for a moment until Blake turned back to her at the doorway and the younger woman finally had the presence of mind to move her dumb ass.

The two played their little cat and mouse game all the way to Ruby's apartment and Blake even let the two enter the apartment before she jumped on her.

It came as a shock to Ruby to say the least. She'd turned her back on Blake for only a second and when she turned around again Blake had her pinned to the wall as her lips met Ruby's.

For the briefest moments her mind tried to fight back, years of training kicking in, but she kicked that part of her brain to the curb as she used her instinctive reaction to pin Blake to the wall instead.

Their kiss broke off for only a moment as the two moved deeper into Ruby's apartment. She tried to guide the other woman to her bedroom but she was too preoccupied and wound up hitting the couch, falling backwards and taking Blake with her.

The other woman smiled as she came crashing down on top of Ruby as she ran her lips down the woman's neck.

Ruby let out a soft moan as she let her hands explore Blake's body her mind went bank as she let her impulses take over as she enjoyed the ecstasy of the moment.

Clothes were thrown this way and that as the two desperately tried to get at each other's bodies.

Ruby wasn't really thinking about the situation and the next thing she knew she was slowly kissing her way down Blake's abs, so lost in the moment that she didn't register the door to her apartment opening. She really only came to when she heard Yang's voice.

"Hello-ooh!"

There was a thud as Yang dropped her bags as Blake and Ruby spun to look at her. There was a moment of stunned silence as no one knew what to do. Blake recovered first.

"Well sorry for interrupting." She said as she spun on her heal and made for the door.

"Yang wait this isn't-!" Ruby began instinctively.

"You kids have fun~." Yang called out as she closed the door behind her, the sound of her footsteps echoing through the halls.

Ruby groaned in frustration and embarrassment as Yang's footsteps faded and she started having an internal rage at both Yang and herself.

She was interrupted from her anger by a soft and on her own.

She turned around to look at Blake, having completely forgotten the other woman was there for a moment. Something she felt even worse about.

"So I take it that that was your sister?" She asked.

Ruby nodded. "Yes," She said. "She never calls a head of time, even when I ask her to."

Blake offered her a sympathetic smile as she stroked Ruby's face gently. "Just relax." She said gently as she gave her a soft kiss.

Ruby felt all of her troubles melt away with that kiss and Blake lead her into the bedroom.

"Just relax," She said again in a soothing voice as Blake laid her down on the bed.

* * *

><p>Yang need a walk to clear her head. A walk and alcohol. She'd come to terms with Ruby's sexuality almost immediately not really caring one way or the other which side Ruby chased. That said she didn't necessarily need to see that side of her sister in action.<p>

She walked into the first decent looking bar she came across just a few streets from Ruby's apartment.

She took a deep breath as she walked in an up to the bar.

"Yo, can I get a double, no triple shot of bourbon," She said to the bartender.

"Rough day huh," The man beside her asked.

"What makes you say that?" Yang asked as she looked at the man.

He shrugged. "Well the only people who start the night with that are either alcoholics or people who really need to unwind." He said simply.

Yang offered the man a grin as the bartender handed Yang her drink. She knocked it back in one go, taking a moment to let the after taste wash out.

The man looked on impressed. "So if I was to ask about it, would you even bother responding?" He asked her.

"I might." Yang replied playfully.

The man grinned. "So, tell some random dude your troubles." He said as he turned side on to look at her.

"Well it's not so much trouble as it was a bit of a shock." Yang said.

"How so?"

"Well I'm in town visiting my sister," Yang began.

"Yea,"

"And well I didn't exactly tell her I was coming; I just sort of walked through her front door."

"Uh-huh,"

"And she had company...Of the adult verity," Yang concluded.

Instead of laughing the only man nodded.

"I mean, I'm not fussed that she'd into girls, but it's still weird to see her half way to town on someone."

"Yea, that's always a bit awkward." He admitted.

"You have a sister?" yang queried.

"Seven," The man replied. "It's happened to me more times than I would have liked it to."

Yang laughed a little at that. "I can imagine." She said. "I'm Yang by the way," She said with a smile.

The man returned the smile as he offered her his hand. "Nice to meet you Yang, my names Jaune,"

* * *

><p><strong>Sup Friendlies.<strong>

**Is it getting hot in here? Or is that just me?**

**Anyway hope you liked this chapter.**

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours Truly.<br>Nicolai Grey.**


	7. Ren's mission

Ren had packed simply for the mission. His name sake and his mask though he displayed neither openly. It wouldn't do well to show what he was. Even as a Hunter in training, the facemask would have been tip off enough for anyone.

The club was loud but he forced himself to tune out the noise, keeping his eyes sharp as he moved through the club looking for his contact.

He spotted her sitting at the bar a few feet away, keeping to herself at the end.

"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked her over the music.

The woman looked at him over her sunglasses and shrugged.

"Get the lady a Strawberry sunrise." He told the bartender. The man nodded and stepped back as he began prepping the drink.

"So you got a name sweet cheeks?" The woman asked him.

"I got a few," Ren said as he sat down. "Round here I go by Stormflower." The woman gave him another appraising look over the edge of her sunglasses before turning back to the drink that the bartender had given her.

"Nice name," She muttered. "I'm Coco." She replied.

"Nice to meet you." Ren said as he ordered his own drink.

The two chatted absently for a moment or two about this and that.

"Well kid it's been fun." Coco said as she stood up. "This should cover my drinks for the night." She said reaching into her handbag and handing him some money. "Have one on me okay," She said as she walked away.

Ren watched her go before carefully taking the note she'd given him out from in between the cash and set the money on the counter. "That should be enough," He said before walking away.

The bartender and nodded and put the money in the till as Ren walked away.

He gave the club a quick sweep before he ducked off into the bathroom pulling out the note as he ducked into one of the stalls.

_THEY'RE WATCHING US._

Was all it said.

Ren sighed to himself as he 'finished' his business and walked back out onto the club floor. He saw Coco talking with a man off to the side. She cast him a glance and began walking into the crowd of dancing people. Ren caught the glance he sent her and began to move his way into the crowd of people, causally dancing his way to Coco.

"Never figured you for one to dance." She said as the two met up.

Ren shrugged. "I dabbled," He muttered. "So what's going on." He asked.

"Wilt and Blush is doing something big." Coco muttered. "I'm not sure how much Crescent Rose knows but he's been getting his hands on a lot of dust among other things. I'm not sure what he's doing exactly but word is he's 'trying to finish' what he started." She told him.

"And what did he start?" Ren asked.

Coco shrugged. "No one outside of his inner circle knows, not even his grunts. The only people that really know what he's doing are Melodic Cudgel and Gambol Shroud."

"What other things is he getting?"

"Aside from dust, he's getting his hands on as much mineral ore as he can as well as military grade weapons and armour."

Ren nodded. "Anything else?"

Coco shook her head. "That's all we know. He's taking pains to keep everything on the down low. I don't know what but I know it's soon. He's preparing for something and it's going to be problem for everyone."

"Thanks for that." Ren said as he began to move away.

"On more thing," Coco said, nimbly stepping in front of him before he got too far. "It's not confirmed but it seems like he's got something to do with the incident at Ferren Port a few months back. He was last seen doing something similar down there but just before the bomb went off he left the city."

"You think he's planning to blow up Baleworth?" Ren asked.

Coco shook her head. "No what happened at Ferren Port was an accident. Whatever Wilt and Blush was working on there went wrong and now he's trying to do the same thing here. And he's nearly done." She told him. "Maybe a week and he'll be ready to do what he wanted to do in Ferren Port a few months ago."

Ren nodded as he made for the door. It wasn't a lot but it was something. He needed to get the information to Ruby as quickly as he could.

The second Ren was free of the club he pulled out his communicator punching in Ruby's number.

Nothing.

Frowning he looked at his scroll in detail.

He had no signal.

His heart began to beat faster in his chest as he began walking, making a point to blend into the night time crowd around him.

He also noticed that no one else was having phone issues with dozens of people chatting or texting away without a care in the world. Ren clenched his jaw and swiped the phone of someone passing by determined to get the information to Ruby.

The signal on the phone cut out before he could make the call. Grunting he doubled back and returned the persons phone before ducking into an alleyway, putting his mask on he made for higher ground. Someone knew he was out here and they weren't about to let him get away so soon.

"Kid's today," A voice said from behind him. "Just got no morals, sneaking into clubs and stealing people phones. What did your parents teach you?"

Ren spun on his heel guns in hand.

The man held up his hands in a mock gesture of surrender. "Woah, woah, woah, take it easy there kid," The man pleaded sarcastically. "No need for violence."

"Melodic cudgel, I'm placing you under arrest for murder, theft and acts of terrorism." Ren said forcefully. "Surrender now."

Melodic cudgel only smiled. "Yea, you see, no," He said as he lit his cigar, "Gotta tell you I'm not really a fan of the whole legal system, or state penitentiaries and solitary confinement."

"That's nice," Ren said as he walked closer, "But my orders are to take you in, Crescent Rose was not overly adamant about you being alive."

Melodic cudgel smiled. "You sure you want to tussle with me boy?" He asked in a more threatening tone. "You may be a hunter and I may not be a Grim but I'm still in this game for a reason."

"And that reason is?" Ren asked as he prepared to shoot.

"I wasn't stupid enough to come alone." He muttered darkly. There was movement to Ren's left and he swore. He opened fire on Melodic Cudgel as he raised his left hand opening up with another burst at his assailant.

Cudgel took a glancing blow to the arm as Ren's attacker came in close.

He swung up with a sword and nearly took Ren's arm clean off. Ren cried out as he staggered back, firing wildly at his attacker.

The man moved past the volley of bullets effortlessly as he closed on Ren sheathing the katana he held in his hands.

The gun in Ren's left arm fell to the ground as the limb hung next to him loosely. He was breathing heavily and the slash to his arm was bleeding badly.

"You're Wilt and Blush," Ren gasped as he shakily raised his other gun. Wilt and Blush only sighed as he clenched his fist around the sheath of his Katana. With the sound of a shot-gun blast the blade flew free of its sheath and slammed into Ren's shoulder.

He gave another cry of pain as he staggered back, only just regaining himself before he fell off the building.

"You're brave kid I'll give you that," Wilt and Blush said as he walked closer to him, "But you're a good five years ahead of yourself if you think you can fight me." He said.

Ren went to say something else but before he could, Wilt and Blush dashed forwards slamming the hilt of his blade into Ren's temple.

The boy's body went limp as he hit the ground, his face mask dropping into the pool of his own blood that had gathered at his feet.

Wilt and Blush picked it up and tossed it to Melodic Cudgel. "Got patch yourself up then deliver that to the lovely Ms Crescent Rose."

"And what about him?" Melodic Cudgel asked. Referring to Ren's unconscious body.

"He's still alive. I'm taking him back to base." Wilt and blush said.

* * *

><p><strong>Sup Friendlies.<strong>

**Sorry this update took me so long, but a lot of shit happened which sort of killed my enthusiasm for a while. **

**Fire my Mum's dog died. On her birthday too so that was kind of shit, then Monty Died which was also really sucky, and considering what happens in this chapter I wasn't really sure about updating this chapter so soon. **

**And no Ren's not going to die, he just got take hostage, but our valiant Hero's will get him back and all that, yada yada plot. **

**Anyway thanks for reading hope you're enjoying the story so far. And rest assured I am hard at work with CH8 right now, in fact I've already started it. **

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours truly.<br>Nicolai Grey.**


	8. Bad morning after

Ruby wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep for but she felt well rested and calm, Blake stirred in her arms and looked like she was about to wake up for a moment before she rolled over off Ruby's arms, mumbling something to herself as she did so.

Ruby smiled as she reached out and gently brushed her hair off her face. She sat there for a moment and watched Blake sleep, she seemed so serene and at piece. The one stable point of a hectic life. Blissfully unaware of the double life that Ruby lived.

Ruby wondered how long the façade would last. Her job was dangerous and even now things were getting more and more out of hand. If something happened to her Ruby wondered how she could play if off. She guessed Yang would come up with a cover story of some accident or possibly a mugging gone wrong depending on the severity of injury.

Ruby shook her head forcefully as she stopped herself from focusing on the thoughts that were gathering and niggling at the back of her mind. She knew it wouldn't last forever but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. For now Blake could live in the lie that Ruby was just and on call something or-other with a very hectic job.

She sighed to herself as she got out of bed. This was the first time she'd ever had to worry about this sort of thing. With Weiss it had been simple. She was an investor and key figure in the management of the Hunter Program and knew the details of Ruby's job. When she suddenly had to cancel on dinner Ruby didn't have to pull some lie of out of her ass about where she was and what she was doing.

And even though Baleworth was a quite kind of city she wondered just how long it would stay like that and this single point of calm in her life would last.

_Eh, just enjoy it while it's here._ She decided as she got into the shower.

* * *

><p>The sound of running water managed to wake Blake from her sleep and it wasn't long before the other woman got up, she looked around herself sheepishly, wondering where Ruby when and who was having a shower when her mind finally put two and two together.<p>

Ruby.

Shower.

_Yep, this is happening._ Blake said to herself as she got up to join Ruby in the shower. A devilish grin on her lips every step of the way.

* * *

><p>After some breakfast a strong coffee and her spirited morning quickie with Blake in the shower Ruby felt ready to be able to face Yang at the office. She knew Yang was okay with her sexuality, but it more came to the mutual awkwardness of having ones sister suddenly walk in pre-coitus.<p>

Yang wasn't there yet so she had a moment to prepare herself as she talked to Jaune. "Well some ones in a good mode this morning." He said as she walked in.

"And what makes you say that?" Ruby asked, playing coy.

"A lot of things," Jaune said causally, "The smile, the slight hum, the fact that you came _skipping_ into the office."

"Oh please," Ruby snorted, "I was not skipping."

"You sure?" Jaune asked, "Cause I'm still the butter flies, baby dear and the verdant fields of flowers blooming in your wake to a Disney theme seem to disagree."

"I was not skipping." Ruby insisted.

"Okay people," Jaune said loudly addressing most of the Staff in the wider office. "Show of hands, who thinks Ruby was just skipping?" He asked raising his own hand.

Of the forty or so people in the office the only ones that didn't raise their hands were the two carrying large stacks of paper.

"Oh whatever," Ruby said exaggeratedly as she made a point of _skipping_ the rest of the way to her office like a four year old.

"Well someone had a good night." Yang said from Ruby's chair as the other woman walked in.

"Yang," Ruby said, off-guard by her sisters sudden appearance. "What are you-." She began.

"I woke up early so I figured I'd wait for you." She said. "So…" She began as Ruby stood in the doorway awkwardly. "How was last night?" She asked.

"You mean before or after you came charging in?" Ruby asked trying to guilt her sister into submission.

"We'll unless money changed hands I'll wager that the night was going pretty well before I rocked up." Yang said evenly as she put her feet on the table.

Ruby blushed a little and moved to one of the chairs opposite Yang.

"Oh Ruby by the way we uh-." Jaune suddenly dropped of mid-sentence as he walked into Ruby's office. "Yang?" He said surprised to see the other woman.

"Hey~." Yang cooed gently as she bit the end of her sunglasses seductively.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I'm here to see my sister." She replied simply.

"Ruby's your sister," Jaune clarified.

"Yea," Both women replied.

"Ruby you said your sister was in upper management right?" He asked.

"Yea?" Ruby said at length, confused by Jaune's behavior.

"If you ladies will excuse me I need to process this." Jaune said as he walked off.

Ruby just sat there for a moment dumb-founded by all of it, she looked at Yang trying to figure out what it had to do with here when she froze. She knew that look.

"Yang you didn't." Ruby began.

"Oh yes I did." She said with a satisfied smile.

"Seriously! You slept with Jaune?" Ruby asked incredulously.

"We definitely did something, but I'm not sure it qualifies as sleeping." Yang said slyly.

"Oh come on." Ruby moaned.

Yang had a comment but decided against saying it. "Don't give me that, I didn't know Jaune was aid when we hooked up." Yang began. "I'm mean yes the name was familiar, but at the time I'd had a few and I needed a release and he was really cute."

Ruby let the matter drop. At the end of the day it really didn't matter to her who Yang hooked up with and at least she could vouch for Jaune being a good guy. Though she doubted it would be more than a fleeting dalliance while Yang was in town.

The two spend the better part of an hour talking about this and that before Nora came in. The younger girl was uncharacteristically nervous as she walked into Ruby's office.

"Um I have a package for you." She said slowly.

"For me?" Ruby asked confused as she walked closer.

"Yea, it was on my kitchen table this morning." Nora said quietly.

Ruby took the small box and examined it. If it was any sort of explosive it would have been picked up by the buildings scanners. It was light and rattled slightly as she turned it over again and again. The only discernible feature from the outset was the words "CRESCENT ROSE" in block capitals on the top.

Sparing a glance at Yang – who by now had made her way towards the two of them – Ruby opened the box.

Nora gasped in shock as she saw Ren's mask covered in blood. The only other thing in it was a note.

_Hey Red._

_Thanks for the gift, I really do appreciate it. Though you really should be more careful with things like this they tend to break real easy if they don't know what they're doing. _

_Anyway I promise me and the boys will take good care of the kid, you have my word._

_MC._

Ruby had broken into a run before she'd even finished the letter, Nora and Yang barely keeping pace with her as she ran. "Jaune I need and analysis of the blood yesterday!" Ruby ordered as she threw him the Mask.

Jaune caught it on reflex and was already half way down the corridor before he had it.

Ruby burst into the Service stairs violently as she began taking them four at a time, lifting her head set to her ear and hitting spread dial.

"I Need Ren's Tracer Location now!" She said as soon as someone answered here. There was a brief pause before the person on the other end answered.

"He's at his apartment Ma'am." The woman answered.

"How long?" She asked slamming into the door of the armoury and punching in her code.

"Six hours Ma'am since 1:31am." They replied.

Ruby just hung up as she burst into the Armour panicking the three orderlies in the room.

"I need a lightning strike load out Now!" Ruby ordered as the three woman burst in. No one said a word as the three orderlies seemingly evaporated into the aether to bring Ruby her gear.

She practically ripped open her own utility locker as she began gearing up for what was to come.

"Ruby this could be a trap." Yang said offering a voice of reason as she strapped a pair of combat knifes to her leg and picked up a 12 gauge shot gun.

"I betting on it, but not likely." Ruby muttered as she loaded her signature weapon. "Cudgel is just toying with us, knowing him he would have left something there for us to go of."

"Like a body?" Yang asked too quiet for Nora to hear.

"Let's hope not." She said as she slid her Mask in place. Nora had her own gear hastily assembled and Yang had dressed herself in the standard Task force response gear that Ruby had ordered for her.

The three wasted no time in getting to the launch bay taking the stairs again, all three too anxious to be able to take the elevator.

They were barely even half way when the Com in Ruby's mask buzzed.

"It's Ren's." Jaune confirmed the second she picked up. "Fresh at least seven hours old. But we can't get anything more. No trace of toxins or the like."

"Understood."

"I have an air ship prepping the in the launch bay now and a squad on rout to secure the building." He told her.

"Understood," Ruby said as she cut the line there. She needed to focus on the task at hand. She knew it wasn't going to be a trap. This sort of thing was not Cudgels style. He liked to taunt people to mess with their heads. She knew he was doing this to get at her and the worst part was it was working.

Ruby began to guilt herself. She knew that sending the two out alone had been a bad idea but she'd put them both in danger to go running around with Blake.

She was the reason Ren's life was in danger and if he was dead then it was all on her.

The air ship was off not even a minute after they arrived but Ruby could feel every second passing and it was just another second she spent blaming herself.

Yang sat and watched her sister teeter on the edge of a nervous breakdown wondering what she could do. She wanted to hold her until the fidgeting stopped but she knew she couldn't.

To every one she looked like the prefect soldier. Everything was checked and ready only Yang could see the truth of it all. The weapon checks the constant shifting of her feet. Ruby was agitated and if she tried to calm her down now it would look like she was trying to undermine her authority.

For now as much as she didn't like it she needed to stay back and let Ruby stand by herself. This was her point of no Return. The point where she would either truly become a huntress or not.

She took a deep breath as she carefully loaded the shot gun on her lap. It wasn't her idea weapon but she hadn't had time to grab her gauntlets before they left. Loading the final shell she cocked the gun and checked the site.

"Grav drop in ten." The pilot said as the three women got up and prepared to jump.

The air ship slowed for barely a second as the three armored figures dived out into empty air. The roof of the apartment complex came rushing up to meet them and then stopped a few feet away as the Anti-grav fields they were wearing activated allowing the three of them to drop down harmlessly.

Ruby didn't bother with the access stair. Ren's apartment was third floor from the top and second from the end. She dived over the lip of the building deftly flicking out a grappling hook to secure herself to the roof as she free fell to Ren's apartment deck. She landed in a crouch and vaulted to her feet as she pulled out Crescent Rose and cut the lock on the door folding it down into a more compact rifle form as she walked through the doorway.

Nora and Yang were only a few seconds behind her and at a signal from Ruby spread out to clear the house.

Ruby made strait for Rend Room. The HUD in her mask was marking his supposed location and with one swift kick she knocked down the door between herself and her destination. The room was a mess with clear signs of a fight and blood everywhere. The worst was on the bed where Ruby could see Ren's locator beacon having been rather crudely removed.

Yang and Nora piled in a few seconds later and seeing the stat of the room Nora finally broke. Her weapon fell to the ground as she backed away trying not to break down and cry. Yang took one look at Ruby before following her out.

She knew it was there to infuriate her, to make her fuck up but she didn't care. Cudgel knew the price for paying like this and before this was over she was going to have his head.

On the wall behind the bed was a short but crude message left for Ruby.

TOO SLOW RED.

* * *

><p><strong>What's happening freindlies. <strong>

**this seemed to be a violently appropriate way of breaking my hiatus. sorry this took so long but again busy, losing shit and having to restart this thing five fucking times was killing it for me for a bit. will hopefully get you more chapters soon and no I WILL NOT abandon this project you have my word. but you may occasionally go through the occasional dry spell where i do not update. I've been becoming more and more fussy about my up loads lately but heres hopping for a quick update. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed. **

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours Truly.<br>Nicolai Grey. **


	9. Steam

Ruby paced up and down her office her mind working in over drive to put together everything. She was pretty sure Ren wasn't dead. Call it instinct, she knew Cudgel wasn't the type to typically kill people without some sort of display. She knew he would rather taunt her about it, but he wasn't working alone on this one so it was likely that Wilt and Blush had already finished him off. She knew that collateral damage like that wasn't something he worried about and she knew he'd have no problems killing him.

She stopped her pacing and took a deep breath. Time for her to step up. She was the Huntress assigned to Baleworth and good or bad this all rested on her judgment and actions.

She took her seat and grabbed the phone on her desk, dialling a number she'd only been given since she'd been put in charge of Baleworth.

The phone rang twice before he answered.

"Ozpin." He answered.

"Hello Ozpin, this is Crescent Rose." Ruby began forcing herself to breath. "I'm calling in an Alpha level Hunt in Baleworth." She told him.

"Target?" Ozpin asked.

"Three. Two of them are Grim." She told him.

"Names?"

"Melodic Cudgel, Wilt and Blush and Gambol Shroud." She answered.

"Understood." Ozpin said. "Who do you need?"

"I already have Ember Celica on location, but I'd like to have Miló Akoúọ join the Hunt as well." She said.

"Understood, you feel that the three of you are adequate for the situation?" He asked her.

"I do sir." Ruby confirmed. "The cult is only the three of them and a few hired guns and street thugs. The three of us plus the task forces I have to hand will be more than enough."

"Understood." Ozpin said.

"I'm also formally requesting use of Spartan strike equipment." Ruby said.

Ozpin was silent for a moment. Spartan equipment was expensive and only used sparingly, each and every deployment was seen as a last resort.

"Why?" Ozpin asked her.

"Both Blush and Cudgel are high priority targets that either need to be taken in or take out after this Hunt is over, we also have reason to believe that they are developing high powered energy weapons." Ruby told him. "I cannot fully confirm it however Wilt has been acquiring no shortage of raw dust and experimental weapons designs. We already have one agent MIA and another who's not fit for active duty in the meantime." Ruby said.

"Who?" Ozpin asked.

"Agent Stormflower has been MIA for the last 8 hours. He was on assignment at approximately 00:32am when he was cornered and attacked by the Grim cult, the only one we can confirm as involved was Melodic Cudgel, though given he isn't truly a combatant I'm ruling against him being the one to take him out. At 07:23 Agent Magnhild arrived at the office with a package that had been addressed to me and left on her kitchen table.

"After going over the surveillance footage or her apartment we confirmed an individual made their way to their apartment at 05:16am to leave the package. The package itself contained Stormflowers Hunting Mask that had traces of blood on it. Lab analysis confirmed it as Stormflowers blood and a trace of his locater beacon pinned him at his own apartment. Upon arrival it was clear that there had been some disturbance and his locater beacon had been removed from his body and left there. Analysis of the Surveillance footage is impossible as the feed had a visual filter implanted into the system at approximately 02:00 hours for 15 minutes where we believe that the intruders entered the premise and placed the evidence." Ruby told him.

"I see, and you believe the room itself was set up?" Ozpin asked.

"I do sir. The images that show him entering have been confirmed to the implanted using a visual filter." She told him.

"Understood." Ozpin said. "All requests have been approved. I'll have the Spartan armour shipped out with Miló Akoúọ in the next 6 hours."

"Understood." Ruby confirmed. "I'll have a full report on your desk by then." She said.

"Very well. Best of luck Ms Rose." Ozpin said before he hung up.

"Thank you sir." Ruby said.

She took a deep breath as she allowed herself to breath. She'd never had to call in a Hunt before. In truth she'd always wanted to, she'd romanticized and glorified the moment in her mind and dreams for years but the reality of it was much differed consumed by her own guilt and frustration had tainted the moment fore ever in her memory. She knew she'd never be able to look back on this moment and smile about it.

The knock on her door brought her out of her downwards spiral. "Yea," She called out.

Uncharacteristically Yang actually waited until Ruby spoke before walking into the office. "Here," She said as she handed Ruby a small folder containing her field report.

"Thank you." Ruby said. As she took it out and sorted it with the others. "How's Nora?" She asked.

"Shaken up." Yang said. "She's passed out in the med bay, she'll be fine in a bit but seeing the room really took a toll on her. For the time being she needs to be removed from active duty." Yang said.

"I know." Ruby said, trying to make sure she wasn't being too aggressive with her responses. Her fuse was short as it was and she knew Yang was only trying to help and the last thing she wanted today was to cause tension between the two of them.

"I gave the order after we got back. If she can get past this then I'll put her back on active duty." She said.

Yang nodded her agreement with Ruby's decision deciding to say nothing more on the matter.

"So have you contacted Ozpin yet?" She asked.

Ruby nodded. "Yes, he knows Stormflower's MIA and Magnhild is off active duty. Other than that he has approved the Hunt and elimination of both Melodic Cudgel and Wilt and Blush." Ruby said.

"And Gambol Shroud?" Yang asked.

"As of yet we don't have enough solid evidence to get a kill order for her. She'll be taken in if possible but as always if the target is proving too difficult to detain lethal force is authorised." Ruby said.

Yang nodded again. "So who's in?" She asked.

"You, me and Miló Akoúọ will be heading the hunt. I've asked Jaune to organise a team of twenty to run back up. If Nora can convince me she's ready for it then she'll be in as well."

"Load out?"

"Spartan." Ruby replied.

Yang looked surprised at that. "You got a green light for Spartan gear?" She asked.

Ruby nodded. "Yea, While we don't have solid evidenced on what Wilt and Blush is doing we know that it can take out half a city if it goes tits up, I'd hate to see what it can do in reality." She said.

Yang nodded. "I see. When is she getting here?" She asked.

"Ozpin said that he'd have Pyrrha and our gear touching down in the next six hours." She told her.

Yang nodded again. "Anything else?" She asked. Ruby shook her head. "Not that we can do. I put a call into Intel about twenty minutes ago to see if they can source Ren's location or a hide out that they're using. Until then we just sit tight." She said as she walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Yang asked.

"I need to clear my head." She said. "I'll meet you back here when Pyrrha touches down."

Yang nodded. She wanted to follow here but she knew that right now Ruby needed her space. If she tried anything now she knew she'd only make it worse.

* * *

><p>Gambol shroud walked out of her med lab and threw the pair of bloodied gloves in the bin as she changed Lab coats.<p>

"How is he?" Wilt asked her.

"Alive." Gambol said. "He's lost a lot of blood and his arm's taken serious damage but he'll live." She told him.

"Good." Wilt said.

"I really don't see why you're keeping the kid alive." Cudgel said from the desk behind them. "It's not like you've been caring about casualties before now." He said.

"The boys a Hunter." Wilt said simply. "He'll have information. Information we can use."

"The kids just a rooky." Cudgel challenged. "It's not like he'll have anything useful to give us."

"Let me worry about that." Wilt said curtly, putting an end to the conversation. "How are the weapons coming?" He asked.

"The schematics Check out and the testings in the green." Cudgel said. "If all goes well we'll have a testable pattern in six days."

"Not good enough." Wilt said.

"Too bad." Cudgel said. "This is delicate work. I can't rush these things. If I do it will be Ferren-Port all over again." He said. "So you can either take six days or you can have the entire Kingdom out for your blood." Cudgel challenged.

Wilt looked as if he was about to retaliate but he gave up. As much as he didn't like it Cudgel was right. Ferren-prot went up because he rushed him into prepping a useable pattern then their reactor wouldn't have gone up. So he let it go.

"Fine six days, but I want a working pattern we can use by then." He said.

"You got it boss." Cudgel said dryly as he went back to work.

* * *

><p>Ruby forced herself to take another deep breath as she got changed. She'd forced herself to go to a gym on the other side of town, partially to be a lone and also because she didn't want anyone she knew see her lose her cool.<p>

She felt triggered, anything could set her off and she badly needed to let off some steam.

Before she could exit to locker room her phone buzzed.

She felt guilty when she saw Blake's number. Part of her was still blaming herself for what had happened to Ren, she knew it wasn't Blake's fault but thinking about her brought those feelings of guilt back to the surface.

Nervously she answered. "Hello?" She asked as she answered.

"Hey Ruby," Blake said playfully. "How are you?"

"Uh, well I'm, uh, well I'm, alive." She managed to mutter eventually.

"Is everything okay?" Blake asked.

"No," Ruby admitted as she slumped against her locker.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Is it your job?"

"Yea," Ruby muttered slightly defeated. "A project wen south. One of our guys in is the hospital and the entire projects a mess."

"So, I guess you'll be busy for a while then?" Blake asked, failing to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"Yea I'm sorry." Ruby said. "I'm not sure how long it will take. I'll be working non-stop for the next week or so."

"Oh, okay, I understand." Blake said. "I was just hoping I'd be able to see you this week I'll be heading out of town next week for a week or so." She told Ruby.

"Oh, well, I'm sure we'll be able to make time when you get back." Ruby said.

"Yea, sure." Blake said.

"Bye." Ruby said.

"Bye,"

Ruby hung up a few seconds later, when she was sure Blake wasn't going to say anything more. She hung her head for a few seconds as she focused on her breathing. She wouldn't let it get to her. She'd see Blake after all this was over, she said to herself again.

She got to her feet and turned off her phone as she tossed it into her locker and slammed the door shut.

She walked out into the gym and made for the first available punching bag she came to. She focused on taking deep long breaths as she carefully wrapped her hands in bandages. She stood facing the bag for a few seconds, taking long breaths.

The she attacked.

She gathered up all the rage, pain and guilt that she'd been feeling over the last two hours and just let it out. There was no method or her strikes, no careful thought or grace like she usually had when she fought. Today, right now it was all pure aggression. Every strike was heavy and powerful, exerting more effort and force than was necessary or advised.

The chain rattled uncertainly in the ceiling as Ruby circled the bag letting out an unfathomable torrent of attacks.

She drowned out the rest of the world as she attacked, not caring about anything else other than the target of her aggression. Her focused slipped as she began to focus her Aura into each punch and kick, making the heavy bad shake violently with each impact and her attacks all blurred into one as her mind became focused on this one single point of release.

With another savage blow the punching bag was torn free from the ceiling and her follow up punch sent it rocketing back but Ruby was too focused to care and sped after it slamming into it with another savage volley of attacks.

With one last punch she sent the bag smashing through the glass window panel lining the wall and across the street.

She finally stopped after that and just stood there for a moment as she took deep and ragged breaths. She slowly became aware that everyone was watching her after that particularly violent outburst. She didn't give it a second thought. She just grabbed her things and left.

* * *

><p><strong>Sup Freindlies. <strong>

**Well thats two chapters in two days. guess its time for another four odd months of fuck all for this story before i get off my ass and update it again. though i might actually have time tomorrow to actually write up another chapter so if you're all very lucky and the stars have a-line and cthulhu manages to crack off a sneaky one I might update. **

**Thanks for Reading. **

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
>Yours Truly.<br>Nicolai Grey.**


	10. From bad to worse

The air ship carrying Pyrrha and their hunting gear touched down just after four that afternoon just as Ozpin had promised. After blowing off enough steam at several gym's and racking up a substantial property damage bill Ruby had managed to calm herself down quite a lot.

The crew moved busily about her and Yang as they quickly got everything on the ship off and took it to the armoury for proper maintenance and testing before field deployment.

The Hunt had been on since Ruby had made the call to Ozpin that morning and both Ruby and Yang were wearing their Hunting outfits there masks resting at their sides. Pyrrah was similarly dressed, wearing her standard hunting attire her long red hair hung about her shoulders in her standard pony tail as she walked off the ship too meet Yang and Ruby.

"Yang, Ruby, It's good to see you again." Pyrrha said as she exited the craft.

"Likewise," Ruby said, "I only wish it had been under better circumstances."

The conversation hit an awkward stall for a second as the three stood there and their equipment was off loaded.

"Anyone else on there?" Yang asked.

Pyrrha nodded. "Weiss is just gathering her briefing notes." She said.

"Wait, Wiess?!" Yang blurted out. "She's here too?"

Pyrrha nodded. "She was the only Alpha cleared Intel-officer to hand when the Hunt was called." Pyrrha explained as the two spared a quick glance at Ruby wondering how the other woman would take the news.

Outwardly it barely even registered. "Good to hear we'll have the beefing at 17:15." Ruby said.

Both Yang and Pyrrha decided against taking the topic further, Ruby seemed to be taking it all in stride.

Truthfully it didn't really register with Ruby when they said it. Her mind was only focused on the Hunt and finding Ren, she'd all but forgotten she was dating Weiss up until four months ago.

It didn't really hit until Weiss walked of the ship and met up with the three of them.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, Ruby gave Weiss a polite nod. "Glad you could make it." She said as she joined them. "We'll have the briefing in 45 minutes." She said.

Weiss nodded taking things in the same matter of fact tone as Ruby.

"Okay." She said.

Without another word between them Weiss and Ruby began walking into the building, Pyrrha went to follow them but Yang stopped her.

"Pyrrha and I will run a double check of our equipment." Yang said. "I'll meet you two at the conference room." She said.

Ruby nodded. "Okay." She called out as the Air craft finished uploading and left.

Pyrrha glanced at Yang. "Are you sure about this?" She asked.

Yang shrugged. "Not really but Ruby needs to be able to take this all in step. Best thing is to give them a little time alone. After all it's not like they hate each other." She said. "So this will be a good change for them to talk, if only for a new minutes."

Pyrrha nodded as she began surveying the engineering teams as they took the Spartan gear down to the lab for one last check before field deployment.

* * *

><p>Ruby and Weiss walked to the conference room in silence. To Ruby it was because she had nothing really to add to conversation, her mind was focused on tying up all the million and one loose ends of calling in a Hunt.<p>

To Weiss it was a bit more of a cold shoulder treatment than she was expecting. She'd expected Ruby to be here usual shy self around her after four months apart but the other woman acted like she wasn't even there.

It irritated her but she forced herself not to focus on it. She was here for a job, they both were and this was a serious situation.

She knew that two agents were already out, but she didn't have Ruby's side of it. She didn't know how badly this entire event weighed on her mind. If she had it would have helped her stomach Ruby's cold attitude but without that knowledge it sat distastefully with Weiss that Ruby was being so blatantly distant.

"Here's the room." Ruby said as she keyed in the door code. "Codes the same as any other place in this building and your pass should get you everywhere else. If you need anything else let me know." Ruby said as she opened the door for Weiss and made to head off.

"Where are you going?" Weiss asked, try as she might she couldn't keep the slight tone of accusation out of her voice.

Ruby barely even noticed it. "I still have a few lose ends to tie up with the civic sector before the Hunt can be put in motion." She explained. "I'll be back in time for the briefing." She called over her shoulder leaving Weiss alone in the conference room.

Weiss didn't like the reason she gave even though she knew it was something Ruby had to do as the Huntress in charge of this mission a part of her was still looking at her like she Was Ruby Rose, her Ex-girlfriend and not Crescent Rose, the professional Huntress.

Weiss sighed to herself as she walked into the conference room and got everything sorted.

It took her about fifteen minutes to have everything set up for their briefing and she spent the next half an hour sitting by herself in a large empty room, making herself look busy when she heard Yang and Pyrrha approaching the room.

"Where's Ruby?" Yang asked as the two of them walked in.

"She'll be back shortly." Weiss said as she handed both of them their own reference sheets for the briefing.

Yang and Pyrrha both noticed the subtle ways in which Weiss hid her annoyance when Yang mentioned her sister however neither of them said anything about it.

Ruby arrived three minutes later, just in time for the briefing.

She nodded her hellos and took her seat at the table ready for Weiss to being.

Weiss watched her walk in her irritation growing. She wanted to say something but this wasn't the time or place for it.

Seeing that everyone was ready she began her briefing.

"I won't was time with semantics." Weiss began as she picked up a remote and started the briefing. "From what we've been able to gather Wilt and Blush has been operating out of the area for the last four weeks. Initially his movements were low key and can only be speculated at." She began. "However his movements picked up a few weeks ago when he hand his Grim Cult attacked the transport freighter AE909.

"For the last six months he has been working on experimental weapons tech. His true goal with the technology is unknown and he cannot sell any illegal or unregistered weapons to any of the four kingdoms without any of them breaking the peace agreement set in place after the last war.

"Three months ago in Ferren-Port Wilt and Blush was confronted by a Group of eight Hunters attempting to bring him in. Details on the Hunt itself are unknown as all eight of the Hunters were KIA during the explosion that followed.

"It was believed that Wilt and Blush was killed in the blast as well and how he escaped with his life is unknown. The same can be said for both of his key supporters." Weiss said as she tapped her remote and the image changed to a side by side picture of Gambol Shroud and Melodic Cudgel. "We have next to no information about the Grim known as Gambol Shroud. Earliest reports place her as active in operations outside the Kingdoms at least to years ago but never to an extent that attracted attention and has not acted inside the Kingdoms themselves since Wilt and Blush came to Baleworth a month ago. Since then she has been keeping a low profile and has only acted in the assault in AE909, outside that she's been keeping her nose clean and staying off grid."

"Do we have any info on her aside from that?" Yang asked as she flicked thorough her briefing folder.

Weiss shook her head. "Unfortunately not. The woman excels at both stealth work and covering her tracks. If it wasn't for eye witness reports from the incident on AE909 we would only be speculating her movement within the kingdoms." She explained. "Whoever she is she knows how to disappear."

"And Melodic Cudgel?" Pyrrha asked.

"He's in the same boat as Wilt and blush." Weiss continued. "We've been able to confirm his involvement in both acquiring certain materials for Wilt as well as his part in manufacturing whatever Wilt has planned."

"Can we confirm its weapons tech or is that still just speculation at this point?" Ruby asked bluntly as she read through the briefing.

Weiss paused for all of a fraction of a second as her mind immediately registered the question as some sort of back handed comment before she answered. "Not at this point." She replied. "We can confirm it uses large amounts of highly concentrated dust and given Wilt and Blush's actions over the last five years it is more than likely that he is creating something to that effect."

Ruby didn't comment further and Weiss moved on with her briefing.

All in all Wilt and Blush had a potential four hide outs both within and without the city of Baleworth, and as Weiss finished her report on both the cult's actions and strengths Ruby took charge.

"Okay then, now that we know what we're dealing with we need to move in and take out their hide outs." She began.

"You thinking about a symultaious strike?" Yang asked.

Ruby shook her head. "I'd like to but we don't have the people for it." She said. "There is only the three of us and all four outposts will have some sort of defences and we can't risk alerting them to our actions." She said.

"So what are you thinking?" Pyrrha asked.

"We need recon." Ruby said. "All four sites are in use but we don't know where Stormflower is being held and we're not sure which ones they have their key components at. So first the three of us need to survey each site as a unit." She said.

"Are you sure about that?" Yang asked.

"It's our only option." She said. "If we start launching all out attacks on the sites then Wilt may very well take only the bare minimum he needs to reach his goals and leg it before it comes to an all-out fight. Ideally I'd like to back him into a corner before we make our move. We go in. figure out what's where and then we strike when we have all three in the one place." Ruby said. "Wilt and Cudgel need to be taken down within the week."

"And Shroud?" Pyrrha asked.

"She hasn't done enough to warrant an execution order yet." Ruby said "So if she capitulates we follow the book and take her into custody. If not we take her out. Any other questions?" She asked.

Both women shook their heads.

Ruby nodded. "Good, prep your gear we'll head out to outpost 4 first outside the city at 18:30." She said.

With everything in order the three of them left to get ready for their mission. Ruby lingered for a few seconds as she put everything back in her briefing folder.

"Uh, Ruby," Weiss began.

"Yes?" Ruby asked looking up at her. Her eyes were still the same but there was none of the usual joy that they had to them. It un-nerved Weiss to see her like that. Realising that she was keeping her she shook her head. "It can wait." She said. "Best of luck."

* * *

><p>It was just after ten when Ruby trudged through the door to her apartment. She was tired but not completely drained.<p>

They had managed to pull usable recon on three of Wilts hide outs but the fourth had been a fake and none of them had contained anything about Ren. No records or nothing to hint at his location.

It only added to the frustration that she felt that she was the Leader of this hunt and that she was in charge of making sure that it was complete efficiently. If she failed now then she'd likely be recalled and another Hunter would be but in charge of Baleworth.

She just barely managed to change from her combat gear when there was a knock on the front door.

She stopped for a second as she began thinking of who could be stopping by at this time. She figured it would be Yang, she was expecting her to try something to calm her down and she probably figured now was as good a time as any.

She was more than a little surprised to see Weiss standing in the hallway.

"Weiss? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I wanted to talk." Weiss said oddly nervous for someone who usually radiated confidence and control. "Can i come in?"

"Uh, yea sure." Ruby said as she stepped aside to let Weiss in.

She accepted with a polite nodded and stood in her main living room awkwardly as Ruby swung the door back and walked into her kitchen. "Do you want anything?" She asked.

"Some tea would be nice." She said.

Ruby nodded and made her a drink.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Ruby asked as she handed Weiss her drink.

"How are you doing?" Weiss asked, trying be a delicate as possible while still getting to the point of why she was here. Weiss never did like beating around the bush.

"I'm fine," Ruby said stiffly as she moved away from Weiss to grab her own drink.

"Well that's good." She said.

"Why are you here Weiss?" Ruby asked getting strait to the point.

"Well I haven't see you in four months." Weiss said awkwardly. Even when they had been together she had never been good at being open with her emotions, one of the man reasons it took the two of them as long as it did to finally get together in the first place. "And aside from the standard reports I haven't heard from you at all so I wanted to see how you were doing." She said.

"Like I said I'm fine." Ruby said.

"Really? Because you don't look it." Weiss said. "I know you're not exactly excited to see me but I can tell when you're upset Ruby." Her tone was gentle and Ruby knew that when she talked like that she was trying to be caring and considerate. Something Weiss wasn't overly good at the best of times.

"Weiss it's not that." Ruby said. "Sure I was surprised when I found out that you were the Intel agent assigned to the Hunt but I've got a lot on my plate right now."

"I know that Ruby." She said. "And I know you're working hard but I can see that somethings eating away at you."

"Stop that!" Ruby snapped suddenly.

"Stop what?" Weiss asked.

"Stop being so Condescending." Ruby said hotly. "I know I'm young and inexperienced but just because you're older than me doesn't mean you can give me that _'I know you trying'_ Bullshit. I'm not a kid anymore Weiss so stop treating me like one."

"Then stop acting like." Weiss countered just as hotly.

"Oh don't even start." Ruby said. "I've got enough to deal with already okay. I don't mind you working on the Hunt but I've already got Yang ghosting every step I take, ready to swoop in and save the day I don't need you to do it as well. Some people may look at me as a kid but if I can't keep it together now then they'll always look at me like that. I made this mess and I'm the one who has to get out of it. If I can't stand by myself as a Huntress then what do I have? Balewoth is _my_ responsibility, and you and Yang won't be around forever to hold my hand every time I stumble. I understand you want to help me Weiss I really do, and I'm grateful that you care enough to talk to me about it but please, let me breathe."

Weiss was silent for a moment surprised by Ruby's outburst. She wondered how many times she had tried to tell Weiss that same thing when they were dating in more subtle ways and Weiss hand completely ignored it.

She hung her head for a moment and set the cut of tea down. "You're right, this is a big moment and I can understand you need your space and your time to think. I'm sorry for disturbing you." She mumbled in a low voice as she turned to leave.

Ruby was screaming at herself internally as she watched Weiss walk away. "Weiss wait." Ruby called out just as Weiss was about to leave. "I'm sorry about that." She said honestly. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I'm just stressed."

Weiss smiled at her. "It's okay. I know how the job can get to you." She was about to leave when Ruby stopped her.

"You know I don't really drink tea, and I know how you hate to waste things." Ruby said.

Weiss smiled as she looked back at Ruby. "If you insist." She said.

Ruby smiled as she took a seat on one of her chairs and Weiss sat down on the couch opposite here.

"Though speaking of stress I know of a few good ways of releasing it." Weiss said suggestively.

Ruby knew that look, and that tone and it brought back many fond memories of their time spent together. "Thanks for the offer Weiss, but I'm sort of seeing someone." She said.

"Sort of?" Weiss queried.

"Well we've only gone out a few times." Ruby said. "But I really do like her."

Weiss nodded. It hurt her knowing that potentially someone else could replace her in Ruby's heart and in truth a part of her had hoped that she'd be able to mend things with Ruby by coming here and maybe get back together with her when she came back to Vale.

But when she looked at Ruby and saw the slight glimmer in her silvers eyes, a glimmer that she hadn't seen since before they broke up, it made it easier to bare.

She still cared for Ruby and she wanted her to be happy and if someone else could do it then the last thing she wanted to do was ruin it for her again.

"So tell me about her." Weiss said. Deciding that the best way to lift Ruby's spirits would be to talk about her.

* * *

><p>Blake was incredibly board as she walked through the streets of Baleworth. She had about a million and one books she could be reading as well as work she could be doing but she'd been distracted ever since she'd called Ruby that afternoon.<p>

She'd seemed so distracted and tired when they had talked and the news that she was going to be busy for the whole week was something else that was eating at her.

When she next pulled her e eyes off the side walk she noticed Ruby's apartment building at the end of the street.

She also noticed the light on in Ruby's apartment.

* * *

><p>Ruby's eyes seemed a little brighter as they talked about Blake and the relationship that they were forming and Weiss felt happy. She was a bit jealous of just how quickly Ruby's affections for the other woman had grown but she was glad that she'd been able to help Ruby relax, even for a little bit.<p>

When she looked at the clock she realised it was nearly eleven.

"Well it's been nice." She said. "But it's late and we both need to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." She said.

Ruby nodded as she stood up as well to see her to the door. "Yea." She said with a smile as she put the two cups on the Kitchen bench.

Ruby stopped her just inside the hallway and drew the other woman into a tight hug. "Thank you Weiss." She said as she held her close. "I really do appreciate you being there for me."

Weiss smiled as she returned the hug. "I'll always be here if you need someone to talk to Ruby. I promise you that. "

They stood there for a moment before Weiss gave Ruby one last goodbye kiss on the cheek.

"What the fuck!" Blake all but shouted from the door.

Ruby and Weiss froze for just a moment to long before they hurriedly stepped away from each other.

"Blake," Ruby said, startled. "What are you doing here?" She asked surprised to see her.

"Intruding apparently." She spat back as she glared at Ruby.

"What?! No!" Ruby began flustered. "Weiss and I were just."

"Weiss?" Blake cut in. "As in Your Ex-girlfriend Weiss?" She challenged.

"Y-yea," Ruby said guiltily. "L-look it's not-."

"What it looks like?" Blake questioned sarcastically. "Yea sure, it never is." She said venomously. "You know it's fine if you don't want to see me anymore Ruby but you could at least tell me to my face instead of fucking around with you Ex behind my back." She said before storming out the door forcing it to bounce violently as she left.

"No Blake wait!" Ruby cried out chasing after her.

"Oh just save it Bitch!" Blake shouted back as she left leaving Ruby standing in the doorway.

Weiss had never seen Ruby so distraught before. The look on her face broke her heart as she just stood there motionless.

"Ruby I-." she began but Ruby cut her off.

"Don't," She said just barely able to keep her voice from breaking. Weiss could already see the tears in her eyes and she knew Ruby would break any second now.

"Just go." She said.

Weiss tried to say something but Ruby would have it.

"Just go!" She shouted tears rolling down her face. Weiss hung her head like a guilty child as she left Ruby's apartment the door slamming shut behind her only a second later.

She could hear Ruby's sobs form inside as the young woman finally hit her breaking point.

Weiss forced herself to take a deep breath as she began to leave. Very few people could tell when Weiss was angry. It was clear when she was annoyed or irritated but when she was angry, truly angry, she tended to keep things more composed than usual.

She didn't like not being on control of the situation and as a result tended to force herself to be more reserved and composed when she was angry lest she let her emotions get the better of her.

She took a deep breath as she exited to the street looking left and right wondering which way Blake had gone.

She needed to speak with this woman.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello friendlies.<strong>

**So yea when I give you a nice scene I just have to slap you in the face with it before the end don't I? But you can always comfort yourself in the knowledge that all will be well. you're only deluding yourself but you can still do it. :P**

**Until next time I wish you all the best.  
><strong>**Yours truly.  
><strong>**Nicolai Grey.**


	11. Mending hearts

She was sitting in in the back corner of O'Hallerens when Weiss finally founder. She was grateful Ruby had talk so much about their time together, it made tracking her down the easy part of her job.

The hard part would be setting everything right. Weiss paused just outside the entrance to the bar and took a minute to compose herself before she went in, to confront Blake.

Blake didn't see her come in and was completely unaware that Weiss had even found her before she sat down in the booth with her.0

"We need to talk." Weiss said simply as she sat down.

"I have nothing to say to you." Blake said harshly. Weiss looked at her for a brief moment before replying. Her eyes were red rimed and still glistened with tears, her shoulders were slumped and her head was bowed.

"Fine," Weiss said, trying to keep a level tone. "You don't really need to say anything you just need to listen."

"I don't care." Blake said.

"You need to hear this." Weiss continued.

"Look why are you even here, I'm sure your rather be back at her place fucking each other." Blake lashed out.

It was a low blow and they both knew it, but before Blake could retract her claws Weiss finally lost it.

"Don't you dare talk about her like that!" Weiss thundered and she slammed her hands down on the table, glaring down at Blake.

The entire bar fell silent at her outburst but neither one of them took their eyes of each other. "I don't care how hurt you are right now but if you _ever_ say anything like that about Ruby again I'm going to put you in a body cast, am I clear?" Weiss asked.

The anger leaking off of her was palpable and Blake actually felt a shiver of fear run down her spin as she looking into the woman's pale blue eyes.

"What's going on here?" One of the bar staff asked as they walked over to the table. Weiss turned her head to look at the man. "Back off." She warned dangerously.

The bartender looked at her for a few seconds before backing off.

Weiss let out a deep breath as she forced herself to calm down and take her seat again. "So I'm sure Ruby already told you that we were together then." Weiss began.

Blake didn't trust herself with words at the moment so she only nodded in response.

"Did she ever tell you how we met?" Weiss asked her.

Blake shook her head again.

"We met when she saved my life actually." Weiss began as she looked down at her hands. "Some thugs tried to kid-nap me. I tried to fight back but there were quite a few of them. It's how I got my scare." She explained as her had unconsciously traced the scar over her left eye. "I thought I was done for and the next thing I know, there's Ruby beating the ever loving crap out of them."

"I never knew she could fight." Blake muttered.

"She dose boxing and a few mixed martial arts courses." Weiss told her. "In the fight she got seriously injured and risked her life to save mine. Thankfully the authorities arrived shortly after and they took her to hospital. I went to see her just after she woke up, and she seemed so happy so see that I was okay.

"I wound up visiting her whenever I could and before I knew it I guess we were together. The first few months were wonderful, but all things come to an end eventually." She added on a sadder note. "Work started getting longer and more frustrating, the time we were able to spend together was growing less and less and before I knew it we spent almost every waking moment with each other having some sort of argument. After four years I took a look back at her and the bright happy girl that I fell for was dying a little each time we fought. She always made the effort, meeting me whenever she could, always trying to recapture that spark we had, but I just could keep it up. So I ended it. I could see what our relationship was doing to her and I could bare it. Every time I had to turn her away or leave just after seeing her. I could see it was hurting her but she never once complained about it.

"In truth I really did love Ruby and a part of me still does. But I've seen the way she gets when she's talking about you. She has a happiness in her eyes that I've never seen before. In truth I'm jealous of you Blake. You've been able to make her smile again in just a few weeks in a way I was never able to. Not in four years."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Blake asked her, finally daring to meet Weiss' gaze.

When she did she was shocked to see that the woman was crying.

"Because right now someone I love is hurt deeply and this is the only thing I can do to make it better." Weiss told her. "It's true I still love Ruby, I still have feelings for her." Weiss admitted as she dropped her won gaze from Blake's. "But I can't make her happy like you can." She told Blake.

She took a deep breath as she raised her head to look Blake in the eye. "Please Blake don't let it end like this. I've already broken Ruby's heart once. I could live with myself if I let it happen again."

Blake fiddled with her hands for a moment as she thought about everything Weiss had told her. Her mind also thought back on what she had said to Ruby before she had run away. And as much as she tried not to she remembered the look on Ruby's face before she had left. The look of utter anguish.

_How could I have done that to her?_ She asked herself.

She looked up when she felt a hand on hers. "Please Blake, just go back to her, she needs you know more than ever." Weiss begged her.

Blake nodded as she whipped the tears from her eyes. "Of course." She said as she stood up.

"Thank you." Weiss said as the black haired woman walked away.

* * *

><p>Ruby had long since run out of tears, she just lay on her bed staring at the photo of Blake she had on her phone. She was such a mess.<p>

She was sad about Blake, about how she had left about what she had said and those feelings were amplified as she thought back to just how easily she had turned them on Weiss, blaming her for what had happened.

She hated herself for doing that to her. She had had no right to kick Weiss out like that and make her feel just like Blake had made her feel.

Finally she was so angry at herself for focusing on all of this now. Her first priority should have been Ren. He was in danger, he needed her to pull through and yet all she could do was lay on her bed and sulk like a child.

She'd tuned out the world around her as she stared into Blake's eyes, the storm of emotions inside of her only threatening to take over.

Suddenly her door opened and there she was.

Ruby sat up and simply started at her, unable to believe she was actually standing there. "B-Blake I-," Ruby began but Blake cut or off as she sat down next to her.

"It's okay Ruby. You don't need to say a thing." Blake said softly as she held Ruby on her arms. "Weiss told me what happened."

"Weiss?" Ruby muttered shocked.

"I'm so sorry Ruby." Blake said as her eyes welled up with tears. "I'm so sorry for everything I said to you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Ruby held her tightly for a moment before she reached up and kissed her. "I's okay Blake." She said. "You here, that's all that matters to me." She said as she kissed her again.

* * *

><p><strong>And one last update before 2016.<strong>

**Sorry this one took me so long friendlies but i did like a bazillion and one re-wrights of this thing and this is the best i got. So hope you like it, there is still the bleeding obvious epic drama bob to come in the next few chapters. **

**That's right Yang's Preggers and Jaunes the father...Oh wait sorry wrong fic. I will not abandon this project and will get back to is asap but do expect another long ish hiatus on this one. But it means a lot you guys all stuck with it for so long.**

**Until next time i wish you all the best. **  
><strong>Yours truly. <strong>  
><strong>Nicolai Grey.<strong>


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